The Places We Belong
by Third Person Point of View
Summary: The gundam pilots find the true meaning of the word home. Contains explicit language and sexual content, multiple pairings::don't want to give anything away just yet!::. Please read and review.
1. Prelude

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of it's characters. They are owned entirely by someone else who was smart enough to make them up.

They had strayed at first, separating and beginning their own separate lives, but it wouldn't, couldn't, didn't last. Not now, when they had learned of each other's existence. It was impossible. It was like drawing flies to honey. They all found their way back together. It took a while until they were all together again, but it happened, as it was bound to.

Quatre reached out first. The first person he tried to contact was Trowa, but it was hard to pinpoint him since he was in the circus and traveling a lot. The first person he actually came into contact with was Duo, who had settled into a situated life. They began talking once a week for two months or so when Quatre finally found Trowa. Then Trowa began contacting both him and Duo at least once a month.

Wufei was next, he came into Preventer headquarters about six months after they'd found Trowa, and Duo got a hold of him and Sally. Sally promised they'd call them occasionally, and she did. Wufei never really called, but Sally remembered and called about bi-monthly or so, Wufei always came on to say a brief hello, hide an exasperated smile from Duo, give an understanding nod to Trowa, and slip a kind word in to Quatre.

Heero was the last and hardest to find. It was Trowa who finally found him. He was surprisingly pleased that Trowa had called. He had smiled, a warm hello slipping from his lips and Trowa suspicions were confirmed. After all of this, all the trauma, all the war, and blood, and death, and hate, and pain, Heero, the most focused, ruthless, precise soldier of them all, had turned out the best, settled into his life the easiest. Not because he didn't care, but because it was his mission now and Heero always completed his missions. He always knew what he'd wanted, pushed everything else aside for the moment to get it, but now that emotions were no longer a nuisance, he'd taken them back up again. Trowa had exchanged the greeting, passed on all his information to the others, and a regular chat was formed.

But it wasn't enough, no, not nearly. Duo invited Quatre to come with him to see Trowa perform on L3, who happily agreed. They were instantly ushered back to the trailers and Trowa received them more than cordially, he received them happily, accepting the bear hug from Duo and the more gentle, hug from Quatre. And it was good, good to see old faces up close, unpixalated by means of vidcom, to hear voices normally, not slightly cybernetic, synthetic, and mechanical. Trowa had them promise to see come when they could again. He was changing, affects of having the circus family. Humanity had rooted itself deep in Trowa's heart.

Trowa made the next move by taking some time off to visit Wufei while he was stationed at headquarters for a time being. The silent friends met fonder than they'd thought they would and Trowa had stayed for a week, both of them enjoying the company.

And then something unexpected happened…

A knock came at Duo's door, Hilde looking up at him for a second and making a pleading face. He gave his best friend a look and stood to answer it, shock splaying clearly over his features. Heero just smiled at him, nearly tackling him the a brotherly embrace and he laughed, asking him to come in, where he disappeared to, and what he'd done with the real Heero Yuy. Did he have a place to stay? Heero paused for a moment, thinking and then shook his head. No. Not really. Duo grinning, he did now. Hilde greeted him a little shyly, remembering her last, intimidating encounter with the very different man before her. She welcomed him in kindly, any friend of Duo's was welcome, and offered him a home and her friendship, no questions asked.

It began this way, Heero stayed with Hilde and Duo, took up working with them in the scrap yard down stairs. Quatre invited them all over about a month later, all of five of them, a gathering of saviors and it was set for life.

Quatre went into business with Heero, Duo, and Hilde, moving to L2 to watch over a new plant they'd just opened up that made metals, but he stayed there. Trowa eventually quit the circus, though not his family, and had decided to settle nearby. He accepted a job Duo offered him. He and Heero were setting up a repair shop along side the scrap yard and they needed good mechanics. What better mechanic than a former Gundam pilot?

Wufei stayed in the Preventers force, but he bought a house near his friends, though hardly ever used, it was his home, near those who cared about him. He called, he himself, more frequently now.

And so it was, the five boys, the five saviors, the five souls who were almost one in the same, so different in their likeness, were reunited. They helped each other build the lives they never dreamed they'd survive to have.


	2. Chapter 01 Heero

"Wake up. Wake up. DUO!"

He jolted out of his bed when the alarm clock cracked noisily over his skull.

"Jesus Christ! What the hell was that for?" he asked, looking up at me outraged.

"Wake up," I repeated.

"Heero, its Saturday. No work. No work on Saturday. It's the Sabbath."

"You don't believe in the Sabbath. And it's Friday."

"No work. No work on Friday. It's the Sleepth."

I looked down at Hilde who had come to stand beside me. She nodded an, _I got this one._

"It's okay Duo," Hilde said. "You don't have to get up. I'll just tell Trowa he can eat all your bacon."

Duo rose instantly. "I'm up," he griped, rubbing his head where I'd hit him. He glared at me. "You owe me an alarm clock."

"Why? You don't ever use it."

"I like pretending I do," he muttered sourly as he locked himself in the bathroom.

"Hopeless. He's hopeless," Hilde said, shaking her and starting out of the room.

I followed. "Maybe not hopeless. Just lazy."

"How did he survive the war?"

"Luck."

"That's right. Bastard's lucky, I forgot."

"Told him I'd eat his bacon?" Trowa asked from the table.

"Always works. That boy. You know. Sometimes I just can't stand him"

Hilde turned to wash some dishes, shaking her head. I gave Trowa a look, which he reciprocated understandingly. I helped Hilde with the dishes. Duo came out, still grumpy. The fact that Duo **wasn't** a morning person always surprised me. He looked like the perfect candidate, but you'd be wrong. Duo needed at least two hot cups of coffee in him before he became Duo. He took his first cup with his breakfast, slowly blossoming.

By the time he'd finished with both his breakfast and half of his third cup, he was normal and blathering on about how walruses were definitely some kind of mutation between a dog, a dolphin, and a sausage. Trowa had his hand resting over the bridge of his nose, his eyes closed and taking in deep breaths. Hilde was staring at him with an appalled, disgusted face as if he were some sort of bug that had to be squashed without thought, and I ignored him completely, chewing on the last of my toast.

The buzzer rang and on the one-way vidcom on the door, which announced guests and customers, appeared the image of a man in coveralls.

"I'm here to install a sign?" he called, looking into the camera quizzically. "Anyone there?"

"Yeah, yeah, we're coming," Duo called, draining the last of his coffee and heading for the door.

We all followed. Duo greeted the man first. I stood silently next to him, waiting. Duo asked to see the brushed, stainless steel sign we're ordered. It read in beautifully polished letters, "GP Repair." Duo inspected it carefully, handed it to me and continued chatting the guy up.

I ran my hands over the smooth metal surface, feeling for imperfections. Nothing. It was perfect, just like Quatre had said it would be. GP Repair: that was the name of the repair shop we'd be opening in a little less than two weeks. I realized that Trowa was standing beside me. I nodded and he directed his attention over to Duo who was laying out where and how he wanted the sign hung. The man was arguing that it was too hard to hang that way and that he had instructions to just hang it and leave. Hilde appeared before a scuffle broke out and asked for the invoice sweetly.

Trowa and I drifted over casually, peering over her shoulder at the price. The sign itself was worth the price, but the installation charge was outrageous. I looked up at Trowa who gave a faint nod in response. Hilde waited, still seemingly intent on the invoice.

"We can hang it," I whispered to her without the man noticing.

It was what she'd been waiting for and she turned to her desk hidden away behind the rubble of what would soon be the repair shop. She took her pen out from behind her ear and crossed out the installation charge. She pulled a calculator out of her back pocket and recalculated the price and tax for the sign alone and the delivery charge. Hilde wrote up a receipt, counted the cash, walked back to us, smiled sweetly at the man as she handed him the cash, the receipt to sign, and sent him packing, "but's," and "wait a minute's" falling from his lips.

"All right boys, let's get that sign up," she said.

Trowa and I snapped into action. Duo, however, did not.

"You think you're my boss or something?" he asked, arms crossed over chest.

"No, I think I'm the woman who feeds you every morning."

"Damn it."


	3. Chapter 02 Quatre

I had a passion for cooking. Perhaps an unhealthy obsession, but I loved it. It was one of the best ways to get everyone together for something they'd enjoy in an agreeable mood, always. A newspaper columnist once said I was the strangest millionaire he'd ever met. I asked him why and to this day, I remember his response:

"Because you have all this money, all these opportunities, all this fame, and you're the nicest, most level-headed guy I've ever met. You don't live in this gigantic mansion with maids and butlers, you cook for yourself, and you give your money away to people who actually need it. **That** is strange."

I laughed now, thinking of what he said as I mashed potatoes. Duo loved garlic and butter mashed potatoes. There was a knock at the door.

"Coming," I called out, wiping my hands on a dishtowel and headed towards the door. Despite all my lawyers' advice to get a bodyguard, I refused. I opened the door and smiled.

Hilde leaned up and kissed my cheek, giving me a small hug. Duo patted me on the back as he entered and Heero gave a small smile hello. I grinned wider and shut the door behind them.

"I can never get over how cool your house is, Quatre," Duo remarked, flopping down on the incredibly comfortable couch.

"It's technically an apartment," I said.

There was one thing I had allowed myself and that was a really beautiful penthouse apartment with a gorgeous view of the city. It was rather spacious for an apartment, but I figured if I was going to live in an apartment, I might as well have space enough for people to stay in if they needed to.

"Yeah, when your 'apartment' is this huge, it's not an apartment. It's a house," Duo commented as the door was knocked on again.

Trowa stepped in a moment later.

"Come on Quatre, I'll help you in the kitchen," Hilde offered.

I followed the petite, dark-haired woman into the kitchen. She had become like a sister to all of us. We'd all met her through Duo, we all liked her on our own accord. She'd quickly become an indispensable part of our group.

I know we'd all of us do whatever we could to protect her, whatever we had to. She was fiercely protected, and yet strangely, fiercely protective as well. We all of us, respected, protected, sheltered, soothed, admired, and loved her, some of us more in one area in the other, but she was definitely looked after.

"How's the shop?" I asked.

"Just got the sign up today," she remarked, grabbing the ingredients she needed for a salad. "Really nice. Duo bitched and whined the whole friggin time. I swear, **I **was about to pull a gun on him. But, what can you do? It's Duo."

"Speaking of which, don't put radishes in that. Remember last time?"

Hilde made a face and put the bag of radishes back into the crisper. She dumped laden arms onto the counter and began washing vegetables.

"What's for dinner?" she asked, sniffing the air. "Smells divine."

"Turkey. I felt turkey-ish today. Figured it wouldn't be too bad. Not many people hate turkey."

"I love turkey," Hilde crooned, melting onto the counter for a second and I laughed. "Turkey is so good. Did you make yams? With marshmallows on top?"

"In the oven as we speak."

She made a yummy sound and melted all over again.

"What the hell's going on in there?" Duo asked.

"I am currently having a food-gasm. Is there a problem?" Hilde asked, challenging.

There was a scuffle in the other room as Duo scrambled off the couch to meet the challenge and I heard Heero give a small sigh and flipped on the TV.

"Idiot," I heard him mutter.

Duo appeared in the doorway. "Yeah. There's a problem," he responded to Hilde, hands in pockets. Then he turned to me and asked in a completely different, conversational tone, "Hey, is there beer?"

"Fridge."

"What problem?" Hilde asked, slicing tomatoes.

"I want to know why – is that yams I smell?"

"Yes."

"Mm, ooh God," Duo said, melting and kneeling down before the oven and pawing at it with a lovesick face. "Oh baby, yes! YES! Yams, oh yes! Please tell me there is turkey where these yams came from."

I nodded with a smile.

"Oh!" Duo exclaimed, throwing his head back. "I think I've gone to heaven. I love you, Quatre, I really, really do."

We sat down to eat a few minutes later. Duo and Hilde tossed "insults" back and forth at each other across the table. Heero met my gaze and cocked an eyebrow. I hid a smile and lowered my head, intent on concentrating on my food.

"This is superb, Quatre, you really outdid yourself," Trowa commented.

"Right on," Duo cheered, lifting his beer in the air before taking a deep swig of it.

"Thank you," I responded.

"Actually, we were thanking you," Hilde responded. "I think the appropriate response would be, 'you're welcome.'"

Duo shrugged. "The lady's right."

"You're welcome," I corrected myself with a smile.


	4. Chapter 03 Hilde

We left Quatre's house at around two in the morning. We'd popped in a movie after dinner, listened to Duo make comments about it, and then had sat around talking until we'd decided to get up and leave before it got any later. Quatre, of course, had told us we were welcome to stay and sleep if we'd wanted and the offer was a tempting one after the turkey-sleep that had settled over us all. We declined though, and had shuffled out.

Once in the quiet streets, I sagged. Duo threw a wonderfully warm around me and pulled me close.

"Sleepy, kido?" he asked.

"Yeah, and don't call me kido, I'm your age," I said.

"Younger."

"By what? A year maybe?"

Heero gave a small smile and Trowa shook his head, his shaggy hair flopping over the proverbially covered left eye. He flicked it back with a twist of his head, but it did no good. It was always there and no matter what he did, it would stay there. I smiled, reached up to defy fate, and tried to brush the wheat-colored locks from his face to no avail. I gave up and he graced me with a smile.

They thought I didn't see, but I did. They were all like overprotective older brothers, always knowing where I was, who was talking to me, what I did the night before.

But, really, and any girl would tell you this, I loved it. I loved the fact that I had five of the hottest guys alive attentive to me. I was lucky. They were good-looking and good people, not the conceited scum that usually sprouts from such divine, god-like boys.

Wufei was the one I least expected to be like this. I saw him the least, but I liked him, connected to him, how I don't know, when he was here and now he was like that really close brother that lives far away, the one you don't have to say anything and he still knows something is wrong. He was really sweet, though not in the conventional way, and not in the way most people could see. His arrogant stance, and stern demeanor drove most away, but the beautiful black orbs hid something that it took me a while to find and that I made sure to never lose and that was respect and kindness. Sheltered beneath the gruff, muscular exterior was a good friend.

Quatre was like a really sweet friend, the one that when you ran to when you just wanted to cry and not have to say anything at all. He would hold you gently, but securely, stroke your hair, and whisper soothing words into your ear, tell you it would all be okay, that he would help, ask if you wanted to talk, listen when you did, didn't push when you didn't. He amazed me. He never let anything get to his head, despite the fact that he was a millionaire before he'd hit eighteen. A photographer for a tabloid once got a picture of me saying goodbye to him after having a semi-informal meeting about the scrap yard and repair shop. The headlines had read, "Young Millionaire and Mysterious Beauty Sharing Passionate Embrace." The photo was a blurry one of me hugging the blond-haired, blue-eyed stud goodbye. We'd laughed so hard about it, tears formed. Fortunately, I wasn't recognizable and nobody took that paper seriously anyway.

Trowa was like this silent shadow, always watchful, always alert, never in the way. He knew the difference between work and play, and respected both roles equally. I'm not saying that he became this completely different person at work, but he understood when I got mad at something that went wrong and he knew that he could come to me with a problem in the yard. He was breathtakingly gorgeous, I mean the kind of guy that girls would fall down over: Light brown hair, emerald eyes, an incredible build that he hid perfectly beneath becoming clothing, silent and a little dark, but he really was the sweetest individual. I never had to say anything for Trowa to completely, and utterly understand what I was feeling.

Then there was Heero. Take into account what Heero looks like, what he acts like, and the initial, middle, and ending impression he gives off. Imagine this lean, but tough, dark guy with shaggy brown hair that fell handsomely into royal blue eyes, a hard, straight, exciting mouth, and a deep baritone voice that carried a load of emotion perfectly disguised behind a seeming monotone. I've heard that voice licked with anger and I've seen the effect it has on the people it is directed to. I've also heard the subtle humor, the joy, the amusement and I've seen the way it turns people into grinning idiots. I have had entire conversations with Heero without saying a word, not one, and there's never misinterpretation.

And Duo. I fought with Duo, teased Duo, joked with Duo, played stupid little high school kid games with Duo. He annoyed me, pestered me, found a way to push my buttons and I don't think I could love him more if I tried. He was my best friend, my only friend when I'd had no one else. He introduced me to the others, gave me a home when I needed one. I don't care that I'm the one who offered him a house during the war, he made it a home. I've never, **ever** seen anyone more defensive about me than Duo. Heero has come close, but Duo blows them all out of the water. He once punched this sleaze ball, broke his jaw, because he looked at me wrong. I remember pretending to be appalled, but secretly I was thrilled. And when he and Heero teamed up, heaven help those who even think of looking in my direction. It got annoying, but the good kind of annoying. The kind of annoying that you say, "Guys, cut it out! I don't need you breathing down my neck the whole time. I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself," but you don't really mean it. Duo was the most loyal person I'd ever met. He also happened to be a total chick magnet, but you wouldn't ask why if you saw him. He had this thick, unruly brown hair and, I swear to you, violet eyes. Violet. I've never seen a person with violet eyes before, and I never will again. Those eyes can carry hope, hate, anger, joy, and all of it in amounts to drown you.

They were my friends, my family and I loved them all. I snuggled closer to Duo, whose grip tightened around me, and looked up at Heero. Heero met my gaze, read my thoughts and sent me an affectionate smile. He knew. They all did.


	5. Chapter 04 Trowa

There was a message waiting for me when I got home. It had been sent at around nine thirty last night from my sister, Cathy. I opened the video file and her face jumped out on the screen, happy and beautiful as ever.

"Hi Trowa!" she greeted, waving. "Just calling to catch up. We all miss you like crazy over here. Manager still hasn't been able to find a replacement as good as you. I told him it was impossible. I think he knows, but he's in denial. Everyone sends their love. I told them what you were up to and they all told me the same thing. 'I knew that boy had a head for mechanics.' What can I say? When they're right, they're right. You must be happy. If you are, I am. Well. That was it, just to say hello and that I miss you... Oh, and I'm coming down to visit in a week. Bye!"

I smiled, shaking my head to myself. It would be good to have her. I undressed and slipped into bed. The sheets were cool and soft and I sunk into them happily. The turkey had taken its affect. I dropped to sleep instantly.

I awoke with a feeling of urgency and I slipped my hand under my pillow to grab my gun. I pointed a fistful of air at nothing. My arm lowered with a sigh and I shook my head. Once a soldier, always a soldier. Nothing would change that.

No, but I was mistaken. I was already changing, had already changed. They say time heals you. They're wrong. People heal you, people who are willing enough, people who love you enough to stick around and make a difference. Cathy had done that. Quatre, and all the others. And I had changed, gradually, but I did.

However, on some nights… some nights when the moon is invisible and the wind is dead, my past comes up to choke me in my sleep and I wake, sweat drenched and panting to an empty room with an empty gun hand pointing at an empty enemy. Still, I smiled to myself. The fact that, one: I could smile to myself, and two: I woke up sweat drenched and panting was a change in itself and I was glad for it.

Any change was a good change. Any change meant that I was further and further away from war…

So why did it haunt me in my sleep?

It haunted us all. It haunted us all, I knew. War. The empty enemy was war.

Duo called me at noon and asked if I wanted to get some breakfast. Duo could sleep in until four in the afternoon if Hilde and Heero let him. He'd typically be roused by the two at around eleven thirty in the morning. I was once over to see the spectacle. On weekend mornings, when there was no one available to say they were going to eat his bacon, getting Duo out of bed was an impressive task.

On the morning I was there, they had come in three times to wake him and had been answered with grumpy moans. Finally, they exchanged a look, a nod of the head, and they attacked. They spilt in the hall, Hilde walking into the bathroom and Heero walking into Duo's room.

I stood perplexed in the hallway, watching. A moment later, there was a scream from Duo's room and Heero walked out a moment later carrying a flailing Duo in a steel grip to the bathroom. He kicked and screamed and then… he heard the water. Hilde had wretched the cold tap open in the shower and stepped out of the way. Duo lashed out, fighting, making Heero struggle to keep his hold on him, yelling as if he was being taken to the executioner. With brute force, Heero shoved him under the cold stream, managing not to get any water on himself. Duo sat under the stream and pouted, spent on the floor of the shower.

I had asked Hilde if this was how they always woke him on weekends.

She shrugged. "One of the ways."

I hadn't dared ask the others. I imagined they involved stink bombs, matches, an angry street dog…

"Why wait so long to get the shower on? You almost got run over."

"Because if we do it sooner, he registers the sound earlier and puts up more of a fight. He popped Heero in the eye once and went running like mad back into his room and locked himself in, cursing. So now we wait until the last possible moment."

I smiled thinking about it and Duo gave me a suspicious, narrowed-eyed look through the vidcom. I agreed to meet them for breakfast and shut off the connection before he could ask questions.

We met at a small café that was relatively unknown. It was empty save for ourselves and we slid into a big booth, ordered with the waiter and relaxed.

"Duo, you're the only person I know who can eat a one pound cheeseburger for breakfast," Hilde said, shaking her head beside me.

Duo shrugged from across her. "No different than bacon."

"It's very different than bacon. Bacon is… bacon and this is cheeseburger."

"Meat. It's still meat. What does it matter if I have it in the form of a patty or a strip?"

"Maybe the fact that the patty weighs one pound alone has something to do with it," Heero put in.

"What do you think, Trowa?" Duo asked.

"I think I'll change the subject," I said, refusing to be the make-or-break in the ridiculous fight that was sure to brew. "Cathy's coming to visit."

"From the… circus, right?" Duo asked. "Which one is she again?"

"The knife-thrower, slender, tall, auburn hair, gray eyes, very pretty," Heero spoke up suddenly. We all stared at him. "It's true."

Duo made a snorting sound, but nodded. "I think I remember seeing her once. Cool. It'll be good to meet her."

The waiter set down our food just then. It was piping hot and delicious, the kind of food you only got with a little known place. The meal was spent nicely, talking about nothing really. The waiter took our plates and gave us our coffee and we lingered over it, content and hidden from the rest of the world until Duo opened his mouth and said, "But if bacon is a meat and-"

We all rose and left him talking to himself with the check.


	6. Chapter 05 Duo

"Hey Duo, there's a news report on," Hilde called from the couch.

I looked over and fixed my eyes on the TV. Relena Dorlain-Peacecraft was on announcing something or other important.

"Turn it off," I said.

Hilde obeyed and flicked the screen off. She stretched back on the couch to look past me and into the hallway where Heero might come out of. Her tank lifted from the hem of her khaki shorts and I found myself staring at the smooth, bare flesh of her stomach. Before I could stop myself, I scanned her up and down. When did Hilde get so... captivating was the word I guess, but it made no sense. She'd always been beautiful, but I lately I was noticing more and more little things about her.

Her dark bangs fell into clear blue eyes that were, at the moment, shining with concern for her friend in his room. I liked her hair short. It fit her, made her sexy in a way that didn't look like she was trying, just was. She had a cute little pixie nose and small, but full, shapely lips. I glanced down at her body and ripped my eyes away from her curves when she straightened. I shook the feeling off, _what was wrong with me?_, and slumped beside her on the couch.

"Is she nice?" Hilde asked suddenly, gathering her legs to her and resting her head on her knees like a five-year-old.

"Relena?" I smiled and pushed her bangs out of her eyes, but they just fell back again. I don't know why I did it, I liked her hair that way. An excuse to touch her maybe? No, it couldn't be. _Cut it out Duo, she's like your little sister. Or at least, she thinks of you like her older brother. Damn it, stop! _"Yeah," I continued in a normal voice. "She's nice."

"I met her once. On Libra." I scowled and she stroked my arm. "She seemed nice."

I nodded.

Hilde's face scrunched in confusion. "So, if she's in love with Heero and Heero's in love with her-"

I laughed. "Don't let them hear you say that."

"-why aren't they just… together?"

I sighed looking for the right words to a question I didn't exactly know how to answer. "Well. I think that they just… wanted to protect each other. I mean, she gave up everything for him and he gave up everything for her and they just ended up giving everything up for each other. Everything that mattered."

"Mattered. So they gave each other up for each other. I'm guessing they don't realize this?"

"Not… exactly. Relena loves him. She knows she loves him. He knows she loves him. And Heero loves her. He knows he loves her. But Relena doesn't know that Heero loves her. She speculates, but doesn't know and she wouldn't risk making a move for something she's not sure of. I think…"

"My head hurts," Hilde said, flopping onto my chest and covering her eyes with the back of her arm.

I stared down at her and swallowed hard. I nodded. "Yeah. Mine too."

Heero cooked that night. I made the iced-tea and, hot damn, was it delicious. I emphasized its greatness with noises of extreme delight. For my efforts, I got a slap in the back of the head from Hilde and a glare from Heero. He went back to seasoning some thick steak cutlets.

I looked at my best friend. I'd known him for a little more than eight years and he still confused me. Thinking back, Heero had changed considerably. When I'd first met him, he tacked no value to his life as if he was dispensable, he was ruthless, almost cruel, but no. I think the word would be focused. I envied Heero. He'd always known what he'd wanted and how to get it. As time went on, Heero eased up and by the end of the Mariemea incident, he'd become so much more gentle, more passive, under control. It still blew me away when he smiled, I mean genuinely smiled, a stranger on the normally, but not intentionally, stern face. He was calm now, at ease with himself and his life and he had the patience of Job. When Heero got angry, though, he reverted to the merciless soldier he had once been. I laughed to myself and he gave me a look from the corner of his eye, carefully placing the steaks into a saucepan where they sizzled. He smiled to himself as if he knew what I was thinking.

I jerked up in my bed, gasping. I caught a glimpse of the blue numbers glaring from the face of the alarm clock Heero had bought for me. 3:15 a.m. I buried my face in my hands and let out a sob. Just one. It was all I would allow myself. I rubbed my face and slid my hands up to push the hair out of my face.

After five years of peace, I still knew how to move without a sound. It was still natural to me. The thought depressed me. I strolled into the kitchen and sunk tiredly into a chair. I hung my head, closed my eyes, and sighed as I placed both hands atop my head.

The light was blinding, completely and utterly blinding. And the heat… it was so hot, my skin was still burning. There were shouts, shouts of sorrow and fear, pain and… and death. The last screams of the dead.

"_Run, Duo! Run!"_

"_Sister Helen!"_

"_Run, child! Go. Save yourself!"_

I shuddered as the fire grew hotter, brighter, white-hot light, blinding, burning, scorching… scorching the metal exterior of a mobile doll. Another enemy burnt and defeated as the buster rifle blasted off another beam of fire.

The sound of war clanged painfully in my head and I let out a pathetic whimper, shutting my eyes tighter against it. Screams, shouts, beeps, sirens, bells, bullets…

"Duo?"

I snapped my head up at the soft, worried tone of voice. Hilde stared down at me, beautiful with worry and compassion in her eyes. Her expression was a sad one, as if she was taking the brunt of my pain… or offering to. I hadn't heard her slip out of her room and come into the kitchen, maybe it was the sound of the bullets ringing so loudly in my ears. She was in her pajamas, a silken camisole and a pair of lounge pants, but for all of it she still looked like an angel. My angel.

She pushed a chair dangerously close to mine, in front, so that when she sunk into it she could look me in the eye, our faces inches apart. She made a small noise, soothing in itself and she gently pushed my hair back, her fingers brushing against my skin softly.

I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around her. She held me tightly, tangling her fingers in my hair as I nestled my face into her neck and sunk into her. She said nothing, just held me like that, making me feel small and safe.

We stayed like that for almost an hour, saying nothing, just holding onto each other, half-asleep. Hilde made a small movement with her head, easing my own up and without ever letting go of me, walked towards the couch. We sunk down into it, lying down beside each other, her arms protectively around me and my own seeking comfort in her form.

We slept that way and the next morning, Heero did nothing to wake us.


	7. Chapter 06 Wufei

I called Trowa first. He answered on the first buzz, his face appearing on the screen. He gave a twitch of a smile.

"Wufei," he said.

"Hello, Barton," I said, mimicking his smile.

"How have you been?"

I hesitated and then spoke. "Bored. There's nothing to do. They're pulling Preventer's on and off the field constantly."

"I feel sorry for you."

"And yourself?"

"The shop has me busy. We're opening in about a week, getting everything ready."

"Is Maxwell annoying yet?"

Trowa didn't comment, but gave a telling smile. "When will we see you again?"

"Soon," I responded vaguely.

"I'll be waiting."

"Goodbye."

Quatre was next, he was happy as usual, asked where I was at the moment, how work was, how Sally was, then we signed off. Sally entered the room just as I disconnected with Heero… or Duo. It was hard to tell which would be considered the conversationalist, the one sitting at the monitor or the idiot blathering on and on in the background. Hilde managed to restrain him… for the most part.

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt," she said, turning back towards the door.

"I was done," I said, shutting the communications line down. "The others say hello."

"Right back at them," Sally said, crossing her arms and leaning back against the wall to do the same with her ankles.

We said nothing for a while as I finished what I was doing and then shut down the computer before me. I pivoted in my chair to face her and she smiled, her cherry-red lips pulling up into a cupids-bow.

"So, vacation time. Finally, huh?" she commented.

I took a second, before answering. She was a few inches shorter than me now, had been for five years. Her form was pleasing, soft and smooth, but she was stronger than she appeared and it was only when you saw her training in hand-to-hand combat that you truly realized it. Her face was soft, intelligence written clearly over her pretty features, which made it easy for her to comfort patients and relatives alike when she doctored. She had kind blue eyes and an enchanting mouth. She styled her hair differently now, leaving it in loose waves, cascading over her shoulders instead of the two twists she'd worn before. I had seen men drool over her, her not noticing, and then glare at me for having the privilege to stand beside her. It was a fun game I played with myself. I never told strangers I was nothing more than her friend and partner on the force.

"Things are too slow. Three whole months of vacation for both of us at once? It's a leave, not a vacation," I answered.

"What the matter, Wufei?" she teased gently. "Are you some kind of workaholic?"

I glowered at her. "No, I just think that three months of uselessness is a bit too much. Not that you do."

"No, I don't." She smirked.

"What do you have planned?" I asked.

She shrugged and played with a fingernail. "Nothing really. I guess I'll just… I don't know. Figure it out later, I guess. You?"

"I'm going home," I responded.

"That's sweet," Sally commented. She undid herself from her position on the wall and headed for the door. "Say hi to everyone for me and that I miss them."

"They don't really know I'm coming."

"Well, when they find out."

She reached for the slid button on the door.

"Do you…" I said, halting her with my voice. She turned to me, listening. "Would you like to come?"

She was surprised, though she hid it well, and pleased. "I don't want to get in the way."

"They'd be happy to see you."

"Yes, but I don't really have money to put myself up in a hotel for three months."

I snorted and rose, grabbing my coat. "You're coming. Let's go eat."

"Wufei, where would I stay?"

I looked at her as if she was ignorant. "With me of course."

She gave a slow smile. I rolled my eyes and headed out the door. She followed. We passed by her own quarters and she grabbed a coat as well. We headed towards a good restaurant down the street. It was packed, but they seated two quickly and in the back corner, facing the door, just where I liked it. Sally let me choose my seat, which she did now out of habit. In the beginning she'd said I was ridiculous, one seat was as good as the other, but she'd gotten used to it, just as I had gotten used to, even liked, the way she always tried a bit of my meal and gave me a bit of hers.

We ordered and our food was brought quickly. I sat back, waiting as she cut off a forkful of my steak and exchanged it with a piece of jerked chicken. I watched as she took a few bites of her chicken first and then chewed the steak carefully. A smile spread across her lips.

"It's good, try it," she urged.

I picked up my silverware, ate the bit of chicken first, nodded complacently, and then bit into my steak. It was perfect. I offered a little more with a nod. She shook her head politely.

"That was really sweet of you," Sally said after we'd been eating for a while. "Thanks for inviting me. I was about preparing myself to go out of my mind with boredom."

I nodded and finished my steak. The server came up.

"A dessert to share?" he asked.

I didn't bother to correct him on the nature of our relationship. He didn't really care or need to know.

"Sure," I answered and pointed. Sally grinned happily.

"Marry me," she said.

"Marry the chocolate cake," I told her. "It's the one you love, not me."

She gave a playful look. "I'm not so sure. Can chocolate glare the way you do?"

"You'll never know until you spend time with it."

"You're not as fun to tease ever since you got a sense of humor, no matter how dry it is," she pouted and took a spoonful of cake.


	8. Chapter 07 Sally

It was a good-sized apartment, with two bedrooms, a master and guest, and one bath to share, a nice living room, a kitchen with a four-seater table to one side a small room where he kept his computer. I nodded approvingly and gave a smile.

"Nice," I said. "Better than my dump."

Wufei said nothing, which meant 'thank you' in Wufei, and went into the master room to put his bags down. He came out a moment later, took my bags and led me to the beautifully simple guest room. The furniture was black, the headboard to the bed a pretty oriental design. There was a cloth poster with some Chinese writing hanging on the wall and a pretty jade incense holder stood on the dresser. Wufei lit a match to the tea-light candle and the liquid heated almost instantly, letting out fragrant plumes of smoke. I took in a deep, satisfied breath and I saw his mouth twitch from the corner of my eye.

"Thanks again," I said.

"If you thank me once more I'll kick you out," he responded, his muscular arms crossed over that fabulous chest.

"Well, th-" I started sarcastically and stopped as he cocked and eyebrow in my direction. "-fine… be that way."

He snuffed and walked out. "Get showered and dressed, we're going soon."

"Where?"

"The right handle is hot, the left cold."

I grabbed my clothes, found a towel waiting for me on the rack, and stepped into the shower.

We walked. The night was brisk like he told me it would be. I burrowed my hands deeper into my coat pockets as we entered the higher-class streets. We walked into an expansive apartment building that housed large, luxurious "apartments" and rode the elevator all the way up to the top floor.

There was only one person we could be visiting and that was Quatre. We dismounted the elevator side by side and Wufei knocked on the only door on the floor.

"That's the pizza guy," we heard Quatre mumble.

After a moment, the door was thrown open and a very surprised Quatre stared at us.

"If we'd known you'd wanted pizza we'd have brought some," Wufei said.

Quatre's face broke into a huge grin and he briefly hugged his friend. I embraced him tightly and kissed his cheek, laughing as he fawned over my being here.

"Wait a minute, I know that voice… Wufei!" Duo exclaimed, emerging in the doorway.

He nearly tackled Wufei and then caught a glimpse of me as I followed them into the penthouse.

"And Sally Po!" he disentangled himself from Wufei and rushed at me with fervor. I hugged him back and he gave me a mid spin and set my feet back on the ground again.

They were all here, Heero and Trowa coming to greet us. It could have been a coincidence, but it wasn't. I knew my partner too well. Wufei always did his research and he knew they'd be over here. How, I don't know, but he knew and he'd settled for nothing less than the perfect homecoming. Heero kissed my cheek, telling me it was nice to see me and Trowa followed suit.

"Sally?" a female voice broke out of the crowd. "It is you!"

"Hilde!"

I hugged the other woman tightly. I'd only ever seen her through the vidcom, but I felt as if I'd known her forever. Strange things happen to those that are friends with the Gundam pilots. She and I chatted happily for a few minutes, then she hugged me again and we laughed, glad to have finally met in person.

"What are you two doing here?' Heero finally asked, the only one with sense enough to ask.

"We're on leave," Wufei stated.

"Vacation," I corrected and he shot me a look.

"How long are you staying?" Quatre asked, leading us to a wonderfully comfortable couch.

"Three months," Wufei responded.

"Sally too?"

"Me too," I answered with a grin. "As if Wufei doesn't see enough of me, I'm staying with him."

"Great!" Hilde said. "It'll be good to have another woman around."

"Amen," I concurred, taking a beer from her and clicking it with her own.

"Hey," Duo said offended.

"For once I agree with Maxwell," Wufei said, giving me a look.

I just smiled as Hilde retorted, "There are certainly girly things that you need to speak to about with another girl."

Duo opened his mouth to say something, thought the better of it and shut it again with a glower.

The pizza arrived ten minutes later and we all pounced. They had rented a movie, which we never got to seeing. There was a lot of catching up to do. I told stories, Wufei told stories, Hilde, Heero, Trowa, and Quatre told stories, Duo told exaggerated rants that we all laughed at.

Before Wufei and I left, Duo made us promise to stop by the yard tomorrow. We did and he left us in peace. We walked back to the apartment, crossing several motionless streets in silence. Just as we were about to cross another, Wufei grabbed my arm and tugged to the side just before I stepped into a puddle I hadn't noticed. His hand dropped, my arm crying out for the lost heat, and kept walk, seemingly focused on his path.

Sweet. That was the word that came to mind when I thought of Wufei. Sweet with out being sickening. He watched out for me. Always. No matter whether we were on duty or not, or if it was his responsibility or not. He did it because he wanted to. He never did anything if he didn't want to.

At the same time, I realized that Wufei was never going to make a move. The closest he would ever get was what he'd done so far; invite me to stay with him these three months. I liked Wufei. I was head over heels for him. Why bother denying it? It was true.

I had seen how he treated me and how he treated most other women… most other people. Now, whether it was because I was his partner or his friend or because he was interested in me, I don't know. But there was only one way to find out.

I had never been shy and reserved. People call me determined. I guess it's true, I wouldn't know. All I did know is that when I wanted something, I went for it. What use was it to sit and pout?

I waited patiently with my hands in my jacket pocket as he turned the key in the lock and stepped into his apartment. He stomped the slush off his boots. I stood where I was behind him by the door. He turned to put the keys on the efficient little key rack by my head. It was exactly what I had been waiting for.

One hand shot out of my pocket and connected with the back of his neck, pulling him closer and my mouth met with his roughly. There was no sweet, lingering, surprising little virgin kiss. I opened my mouth and he opened his and our tongues met for a brief moment before retracting. Our lips clung for a long, long moment.

The keys dropped onto the floor and his arm wound around my waist and pulled my body as close to his as the thick coat would allow. His lips parted again and this time our tongues clashed and moved together in an enthralling rhythm.

His body pulled away for a moment, though his lips never did, and he wretched the coat off my body before pulling me back, no thick barrier between us this time. I could feel him just a little below my hip and I smiled. He did like me then, just as much as I liked him. If he didn't, he'd have pushed me away the instant our lips touched.

I pushed a little and he began moving backwards slowly, his mouth still working in time with mine. His shoulder hit a corner and he grunted into my mouth. I laughed, kissed him again and he smiled, taking up where we had left off. My hands searched and found the bottom of his shirt and he lifted his arms when I pulled up on it. We separated just enough for it to come up over his head and land in a pile in a corner of the living room. I looked over the sculpted chest, the tightened abs, the carved arms and smiled up at him. He lifted an eyebrow.

"Wow," I breathed and he smiled and bent to kiss me again swiftly before pulling me with him and pulling my shirt loose.

Skin on skin contact. I shivered, our stomachs touching as he held me to him. The door to his bedroom was open and we stopped moving just before the back of his knees came into contact with the bedside.

Then we broke and I stepped back away from him. He looked me over, licked his lips once, and watched, waiting.

I undid the button and fly on my pants and let them fall around my ankles before kicking them away. I stood then, in bra and panties letting him look me over and smiling. When his gaze finally slid back up to my face, I cocked an eyebrow, waiting my turn and he gave a small grin as he unbuckled his belt and then unsnapped his pants and tossed them away.

It was my turn to look and I took my time in it. His legs were as finely crafted as the rest of him. He wore simple blue boxers that did him justice. A smile kissed my lips as I paused on the boxers and then met his gaze once more. He reached out and took hold of my waist, pulled me in slowly, gently and kissed me again.

This time the kiss worked its way up. It began painfully slow, our tongues meeting for a fleeting second, then pulling back, then meeting again, gradually quicker and quicker until our breathing got heavy and he ravaged me and I let him.

He twisted deftly and pushed my onto my back on the bed, my breath expelling from my lungs, surprised. I reached up to draw him in as he fell over me, one strong arm supporting his body and the other hand stroking my cheek. He shifted his grip and clutched the back of my neck. He moved with me as I scuttled up to the top of the bed, pillows enveloping my head.

I could feel him more fully now, especially when I reached down and slid teasing fingers over him. He took in a sharp breath and then kissed me hard, pulling me up into him and I tightened my grip so that he gave a muffled moan into my mouth. I arched my back, pushing myself closer to him as one strong hand gripped my breast. When I did so he slid his hand off my breast and with one quick, fluid movement, unlatched my bra with one hand and slipped it off quickly.

This time his hand connected with skin and his mouth left mine to trace a fiery track down my neck, onto my collarbone and then onto my bare chest. I gave a small cry and I felt his smile against my skin.

But he wasn't done with his slow torture. He continued kissing and nipping, tasting and licking, teasing and biting down my stomach, onto my bellybutton, my hipbone…

I squirmed anxiously beneath him, my fingers in his hair, as he twisted two fingers in my underwear and twitched them off. I cried out, but he didn't stop. Good thing. I didn't want him to.

I finally pulled him back up towards me and I covered his mouth with my own. The final article of clothing that had kept us separate was discarded as his boxers went flying after my panties and my bra.

There was never a word spoken, never a hesitation. Neither of us broke apart to ask if we were sure, if we wanted this and the repercussions of it. We did, we knew each other well enough to know for sure.

I moaned deeply when he finally entered me. And he sighed, his head sagging onto my shoulder. We built a rhythm that was timed perfectly, not too fast, not too slow. My nails scraped into his back, broken cries slipping from my lips. He smiled and continued on for what felt like forever. I should have known. He was a Gundam pilot. If they had nothing else, they had control.

He gave and gave, more and more, and I felt like I was going to be ripped in half, until I said in a breathless, pleasure filled whimper, "Now…"

I felt him release, easing his own wonderful torture. I gave one last, lingering cry and he exhaled deeply and then after, we paused for a moment, frozen, letting that wonderful feeling settle into our bones, we sagged as one into his incredibly soft pillows.

He was breathing deeply, I could feel his humid breath on my shoulder. After a few more moments, he shifted off and out of me. I missed him already. He leaned over and it was then that we shared that sweet, lingering, surprising little not-so-virgin kiss. He lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling and I looked over at him.

"Where did that come from?" he asked, still a little breathless. I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off with a shake of his head and he looked at me. "I don't care, you're mine now."

I smiled at him, broke out into a laugh, and rolled on top of him, kissing him deeply again.


	9. Chapter 08 Catherine

The cab was musky and smelled like piss. I didn't gag though, which surprised the cabbie. I knew what he was thinking.

"_This pristine, girly-girl? Life is strange."_

I grinned at him through the rearview mirror. Little did he know that I spent my life around animal excrement. I sat back in the sticky backseat of the cab and looked out the window. The circus had toured here a few times, but I'd never had time to really look around the city. It was beautiful. The city was quiet, the streets were almost empty, save for the few cabs and solitary cars driving to whatever destination they had in mind. The night air was clean and fresh. I knew that in the daytime, I knew that the city was hectic, but right now, it was peaceful and I took it in happily.

"Here you go, sweetheart," the cab driver said, wheeling around to get a look at me. "It'll be $20.57."

I handed him 30 bucks and he smiled a thanks. I slipped out of the cab and peered up at the apartment building. I hadn't told Trowa when I was coming, but he stepped out of the lobby door, hands in pockets, hair stereotypically over the left half of his face, giving me that small, exhilarating smile of his. I grinned widely back at my brother and dropped my luggage to tackle him. He caught me with a little laugh, holding me up as I curled my legs up to hang off him. The cab drove off into the night behind us as he set me on my feet again and ran a hand through my curls. I leaned into his palm.

"I've missed you Cathy," he said simply.

"Me too."

He stooped to grab my bags and led me up to his apartment.

"So, what am I supposed to expect?" I asked.

Trowa had told me to dress in something I wouldn't mind getting dirty. He was taking me to the scrap yard where he worked. I had grabbed a bleach-stained t-shirt and some skuzzy-looking jeans. Trowa just smiled at the question.

"A show," he responded.

I raised my brows, but asked no more questions. I didn't expect to get any more answers out of Trowa. It was a short walk. We turned into an industrialized street, away from the market place and a compound loomed before us. A sign that simply said, "Scrap Yard" hung over the gate. The city was still drowsy with early morning sleep hanging over it and the junkyard was silent. There was a light on, up at the third floor, high above us. Trowa produced a swipe card that let us through the security gate and he got into an elevator at the end of the hall. Another swipe of the card and it rose automatically to the third floor. There was a shallow hallway and one nicely painted reddish-brown door, which Trowa opened without pretense. I hesitated for a moment, but Trowa paused, waiting for me to follow timidly inside.

The apartment was quite large and very comfortable. To the left was a hallway with some rooms and what I presumed to be a bathroom. To the right was a nice living room with a dark wooden entertainment piece, a nice TV on it. Perched before it was a large, comfy looking couch and beside the couch a large, matching loveseat. A coffee table, wooden legs matching the tint of the entertainment center, with a glass tabletop brandished a couple of remotes, a half-eaten bowl of candies, and picture of a group of boys. Trowa was among them, so I took a guess and assumed that the remaining for were the other Gundam pilots I'd heard so much about. The kitchen was a little ways behind the living room with a half wall that held a large window/bar with dark wooden stools that you could peer into. There were some pull shutters so that if you ever wanted peace in the kitchen, you could get it, but it was open and I had the feeling that it stayed that way most of the time. In the kitchen was a petite woman with dark, short hair and dazzling blue eyes. She was beautiful and was, at the moment, cooking some eggs over the stove. She looked up when she heard the door shut behind us.

"Hey," she said, smiling as she saw Trowa and then her eyes flicked over to me. Something like realization dawned in the clear blue and she smiled wider, setting aside the pan and wiping her hand on a towel. She stepped out from behind the wall and came to stand before us, beaming.

"Hilde, this is my sister Cathy. Cathy, this is Hilde," Trowa introduced.

"Hi, it's nice to finally meet you. Goddamn, you are gorgeous. How intimidating is that?" Hilde said with an easy smile. She had a comfortable air about her, easy to talk to and get along with. I liked her immediately.

"Oh please, look at you," I said, shaking her hand. "So you're the Hilde Trowa mentions all the time."

"Good things I hope."

"Absolutely horrid."

"I know it. It's the quiet ones that get you."

"You got a great place. Sorry for just barging in." She waved this away and I continued, "You live here alone?"

Hilde laughed, a twinkling sound. "No, I wish sometimes, but no."

"What is that supposed to mean?" came a deep voice emerging from the hall.

A lean, blue-eyed boy emerged and walked towards us. He gave me a smile, something that looked charmingly odd on his face, but sent pleasurably waves over me, and extended a hand.

"You must be Catherine," he said.

"Yeah. Nice to meet you."

"Heero Yuy," he responded.

"Heero," I repeated, engraving it into my mind. "You two are… married?"

Another laugh from Hilde and a shake of the head from Heero, and Hilde said, "No way. Just roommates and really good friends."

She made her way back into the kitchen and we followed her. We sat the kitchen table, a pot of fresh coffee and fixings set out for us. She set mugs on the table and then turned back to the eggs she'd left. She served two plates and set them before the boys.

"How do you like your eggs?" she asked.

"Oh, let me help you," I responded, beginning to rise.

"Sit. How do you want them?"

I had a feeling that arguing wouldn't work. "Scrambled, if you don't mind."

"Good answer. I like them like that too. Cheese and ham?"

"Oh, yeah."

Hilde grinned and began beating the eggs. We ate with some morning, sleepy conversation between us. They asked me polite questions and I gave them polite answers and vise-versa. At around eight Heero looked at his watch and gave a sigh.

"Better go get Duo," he said, standing and setting down his coffee mug.

"Duo?" I asked, giving a questioning glance.

"Another roommate and very good… very lazy friend," Hilde said, rolling her eyes and sipping from her mug.

Heero walked to the hallway and entered the first room on the right hand side. Curiously, I listened.

"Duo. Wake up," he said. "Wake up."

THWACK!

"Oooow! What?"

"Wake up."

"It's Sunday. Go away."

"It's Thursday, get up," Heero replied to the sleepy, irritated voice emitting from the room. I wondered what he'd hit the other man with.

"I'm sick. Get out."

"You're fine. Get dressed."

Hilde sighed. "I'll handle this. You, my new friend, are a wonderful scapegoat. Curiosity makes for an easy wake up."

I looked at Trowa, inquiringly. He just raised his brows and finished his eggs. I heard Hilde come into the room next to Heero.

"You sleepy Duo?" she asked in an almost mockingly nice, motherly voice.

"Yes. Leave me alone," Duo whined irately.

"Oh, that's all right. Sleep. I'll tell Cathy you're feeling bad."

There was a long pause and then sleepy interest. "Cathy?"

"Yeah. Trowa's sister. She was stopping by on her way to the spaceport and she wanted to meet you. I'll tell her you'll take a rain check." There was a slight pause as if turning to Heero. "Did you see those eyes? She's smoking, right?"

Heero wasn't one to over play his part, at least not from what I saw of him, and he didn't. "She is a beautiful woman. It's a shame she won't be back for anther two years."

There was a groan and then a slight scuffle. A moment later a boy, built much like Heero, with a chestnut braid emerged from the room and sauntered into the bathroom across the hall. Hilde and Heero followed him out and came to join us, Hilde laughing and Heero smiling.

Ten minutes later, the boy, Duo I presumed, came into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from his eyes in an infantile way. Hilde shoved a cup of coffee into his hand and he gulped at it.

"Duo," she said. "This is Cathy. Cathy, this is Duo Maxwell."

"Hi, it's nice to finally meet you," I said.

Duo shook my hand cordially, never letting go of the coffee cup, and looked me up and down. "You're not going to the spaceport, are you?"

I hid a smile. "No."

"Goddamn it."

It was like watching a chrysalis. Duo bloomed from a caterpillar into an overactive, talkative, wonderfully annoying butterfly. He asked all the usual questions and all the unusual ones. He seemed innocent enough, kind of like a little boy, curious and blatant. He'd ask questions, half-listen to the answers, and then they were forgotten. Or at least, that's how he made it seem. He was a great actor. The best I'd ever seen. But I had seen too many, worked with too many, and they all had a tell. His tell was his smile. It was too confidant, too adamant, too perfectly, charmingly simple. You'd never notice, not if you didn't know what to look for.

Duo, seemingly childish and innocent, was reaping in information, calculating and judging whether or not I was real, true enough for him and his acquaintance. He trusted Trowa's judgment blindly, I could see, but he was too smart to trust me without his own appraisal. Every question had a meaning, had a significance. He took what little I would give him and tear it apart expertly. So I gave him everything, I answered genuinely and truthfully and he saw that, understood what it meant… and liked it. After a certain point in the morning, his questions became small talk. He'd gathered everything he'd needed. I had passed the test. I smiled to myself in victory.

"So lions, huh? You ever ridden one? I mean, like you would a horse?" he asked curiously.

I laughed. "I never thought to."

"You're lying. I know you are. You just haven't gotten the chance."

"I admit it. I've always wanted to."

"Promise me you'll do it. When you get back, you'll ride a lion."

"I don't-"

"Promise."

I smiled at his mischievously earnest face. "I promise. Are you happy, you whiner?"

"Yeah." He paused and looked down at me from the pile of scrap he was separating and whined down, "What do you mean a whiner? I'm not a whiner. Please… tell me I'm not a whiner!"

I looked up as someone knocked on the apartment door. Trowa had just gotten in the shower. I set my book down on the reading table and rose. I swung the door open and took in a breath as clear blue eyes clashed with mine.

"Catherine?"

He was taller, a lot taller than when I last had seen him so many years ago. He was just as lean, but with definition under the pristine clothes. He'd lost the childish air of innocence and naivety and had replaced it with a gentle, but strong soul. One that knew understood that you can't make the world a fairy tale, but you can try. He had the same mouth, kind and quick to offer forgiveness and his eyes were the same crystal blue and just as deep, but his features had undergone a change. They were not as boyish as they had been, he was grown up now and ready for life. Ready to fight for it in his way. His hair was still golden, shining and tempting, calling to me to run my fingers through it. He was shocked, as surprised as I was.

"Quatre?" I replied in a small voice.

He recovered first. In his hands he had a DVD case and he lifted it as if in response to an unasked question. "I was… I just came to drop this off for Trowa. He had…" He shook his head suddenly and gave a nervous, apologetic laugh. "I'm sorry. That wasn't a very good greeting. How are you? I didn't know you were in town."

I smiled back. "Yeah. I just got in last night."

"How long are you here for?"

I shrugged, uncomfortable with the question. "Couple of weeks maybe?" I opened the door wider. "Do you want to come in? Trowa's in the shower, but I don't think he'll be long."

He gave a quick smile and stepped inside. He put the movie on the table and stood in the middle of the room, his hands in his pockets, the light from above reflecting off his hair and making a halo. He looked like an angel. His eyes found their way back to mine and I quit staring, flushing at the thought of him having caught me.

"So, I heard you've become a business man," I said.

He made a face. "The newspapers hype things out of proportion."

"Not a fan of the fame?" I knew he wouldn't be.

"No." He changed the subject. Off of him, onto me. "So, how was your flight? Good. Have you done any sightseeing yet?"

"Yes, I went today to visit scenic 'Scrap Yard.' It was enthralling. The heaps of metal are just gorgeous."

"I meant somewhere worthwhile, not the yard."

"No, not really."

"If you don't mind my suggesting, I think the first thing you should go see is Tri-Star Lake. They have a nice little ferry that tours around it. If you go during the early afternoon on a workday, you get the boat practically to yourself and it's a great place to just sit back and relax."

"Sounds amazing. Wow, I think I'd love it. Maybe I'll go see it sometime."

"You already have plans?" Quatre asked.

"No, but I have no one to take me. I kind of don't want to go traipsing about alone and Trowa works tomorrow."

"I'll take you," he said quickly, and then, as if realizing that he'd spoken almost too eagerly, said in an embarrassed tone, "I mean, if you'd like…"

I gave him a brilliant smile. "Sure. Thanks. I'd like that."

The initial meeting up was awkward again, as if we'd stepped back. He smiled politely, timidly, anxiously and I'd returned it with a cautious smile of my own. He made me feel guilty. I had promised so long ago not to ever forgive him, and now… now I didn't know how to take it back. He looked so pained, so sorry. Sorry for something that was and wasn't his fault. Wars were ugly things and they did ugly things to people. I'd seen first hand what war did to someone. The way he looked at me… it hurt. Hurt me to know that I was hurting him.

Conversation was our break away from the unsettled. It worked like magic. He had me laughing in less than a minute and I could see that he was having fun playing tour guide, watching as I pointed out shops and items he already knew about. The streets were empty and the day was nice. There was salt in the air and a nice breeze that came up off the water. It was treacherous and at one point made a goal of humiliating me by almost throwing my skirt over my head. I grabbed at it, squeezing my legs closed just in case it did manage to succeed in its devilish deed. Quatre's eyes widened and then he jerked into action to help me keep my treasonous skirt around my knees. He held down the side and I the front, all the while he was laughing, unable to control himself and I shot him false looks of hatred and laughed with him.

His eyes were very blue and they held every ounce of emotion he felt. Nothing was hidden because he didn't let there be. He could hide if he wanted to, but he didn't want to. Didn't have to, wouldn't punish himself with self-pity. I looked away, still laughing and got my clothes under control. He walked beside me, no lasciviousness about him, hands in his pockets. He had nice hands. Really nice hands. I forced my eyes forward.

The beautiful hands came out of his pockets as he purchased two ice-cream cones and handed me a chocolate one. I took it with a smile, my fingers brushing lightly against his. I felt them twitch below mine and I took a lick of the dessert happily, thanking him. His free hand went back into his pocket.

He was right, the boat was completely empty save for ourselves. It chugged slowly around the lake. There was no tour guide, we didn't need one. The lake spoke for itself. Quatre was silent beside me. He'd sunk into the uncomfortable chair, one foot resting on the opposite knee, his arms spread across the backs of the chairs next to his. I was leaning forward, resting my elbows on my knees.

"I couldn't see straight," Quatre said, speaking softly. "In every sense of the phrase. I couldn't focus on anything… They told me that my accuracy was 100, but I was almost blind. I could… I could hear, though. I could hear so well. I could hear the hearts beating on the colonies and I remember thinking to myself, I shouldn't be able to hear all this. I was confused… and angry. Still, I… there was no excuse."

I had sat back, listening rigidly as he stumbled through his story in an uncertain, sorrow filled voice. We had switched places. He was leaning forward now, staring out into the lake, his eyes moving as if focusing on something other than the tranquil scenery. He hung his head now, holding it in his hands for a moment before running his hands back over his hair so that it flopped over his fingers and back into his saddened, painfully saddened eyes and his hands rested on the nape of his neck. He looked at me then and my heart lurched for him. He was so sad, so very, very, sad.

"I never, **never** meant to hurt him." Then he added in a softer tone, "…or you. I'm so sorry, Catherine. I'm sorry."

He had buried his angelic face in his hands. I tilted my head as if to peer through his fingers and then gently reached out to remove the imposing, beautiful hands from his face. He met my gaze, eyes yearning.

"You can call me Cathy," I said softly. "I'd like it if you called me Cathy."

It was my way of both accepting his apology and apologizing myself. He understood immediately and his jaw slackened a bit as if in relief. Then suddenly he moved forward and, gently, but not hesitantly, pressed his lips to mine.

I was surprised, my eyes widened and at first I didn't react, but then I returned his pressure just slightly to let him know. To let him know it was okay to kiss me.

I didn't get a tour when we reached Quatre's apartment. I didn't even know what it looked like. All I knew is that it had one extraordinarily convenient wall that I was pushed up roughly against. My breath exploded from my lungs with a gasp that was cut short as Quatre bent to jerk his mouth to mine again and kiss me deeply.

It was odd. I'd never seen this side of Quatre before. I didn't know that a man so sweet and gentle and polite could push you up against a wall, pinning you in with one arm on either side of your head, and kiss you so passionately you felt like you were on fire. But he did and I let him, our tongues dancing an erratic, frenzied beat against one another. I broke from his mouth to kiss his chin, his jaw, to linger on his neck, licking and nipping and kissing so that his head rolled back, giving me more space to work with. All the while, my hands were unbuttoning the flattering, pristine shirt that adorned his frame.

He brought my mouth to his once more as he and I both wiggled him out of his shirt and it fell to the floor beneath us. I caught my breath as I looked down at him. He was so much stronger than you'd ever expect. He was thin, but muscular. My gaze wandered over his chest, abs, shoulders, over one of the arms that was at eye level. He was watching me, his golden hair meshing with mine, our foreheads touching. His breathing was slightly labored, but when I met his gaze, he smiled at me. I reached up, took the angelic face in my hands and kissed him, parting his lips with my tongue and working us up again.

He pulled the tank over my head. His fingers traced a path down my throat, over my breasts, down the middle of my abdomen, catching and resting on the lip of my skirt. I undid his belt buckle and whipped the leather strap off and into the air. He whirled us around suddenly, still lip-locked and blindly led me towards what I assumed was the bedroom and the bed.

I was wrong. We never quite made it to the bed. We got to the doorway of the massive master bedroom. He wrestled with the zipper on my skirt and we broke apart to get the damned thing off. He looked me up and down a moment before lunging at me again. Shoes had been the first things to go, followed by his socks. There were sitting in the front room, accompanied by my shirt and his. My bra was lucky enough to have been tossed into the room. His pants, however, made it out to the front room as he flung them backwards. I felt him pressed against me and I gave a breathy laugh into his mouth. I felt his smile against my lips.

"Jesus Quatre," I muttered between kisses, my hand running wild. "I thought you were a good little boy."

He gave a whisper of a laugh and looked me straight in the eyes as I was once again pinned on the doorframe. "Everyone does." And then his hand slid down fluidly between my legs and hit the exact spot it should have with the exact pressure it should have.

I squirmed as he worked, my head falling onto his shoulder, nails digging into his back for support. After thirty seconds he'd disposed of my panties and continued, unhampered by fabric. My nails must have gouged him, but he didn't flinch, didn't stop until I was right on the peak… and then he let go and kissed me again. Leaving me sweating and frustrated and hungry for more. Exactly as he'd meant to.

Normally I would have figured, _two can play at that gave_, and given him a tantalizing taste of his own medicine, but a much better, much more sinister idea came to mind. I sunk down away from him, taking his boxers with me. He was surprised, that much was certain, but he didn't say anything, couldn't say anything. He leaned heavily against the frame where I was a moment ago.

He was playing with me. His control was remarkable and at this moment, when revenge would have been so sweet, I hated him for it. Little by little, I broke him, taking my time, pulling all my best tricks and he broke. I smiled and rose to see him eye to eye again.

He was breathing hard. Usually there needed to be a rest period of about five or ten minutes. It was normal for men. But Quatre wasn't normal, he was a Gundam. I had seen what war did to people. I'd seen the effects. For once in my life, I was thrilled with the effects of a soldier's training. I didn't know how much it would benefit me.

Quatre almost threw me into the room, mouths working, sweat trickling, hormones raging. The first thing we came into contact with was the dresser. Whatever was on it scattered as I was shoved half against it, half on it.

He took me there, not slow and gentle, but wildly. Perfectly. Exactly as he should have. I didn't know Quatre had it in him. It was incredible. I peaked before he did and he relaxed, letting himself go, but not stopping. He built me up again, sent me calling out, until I hit fire once more and he, guiding himself by me, unloaded once more and then sagged against me.

After a long moment, we separated and fell, tangled, back into the soft mattress only inches away. He held me close. Warm. I was warm. I pressed closer to him. He lifted the covers from under me and draped them across the both of us. Sweet, kind, considerate Quatre was back. Though, he'd never really been gone. He'd been wilder, rougher than I'd ever seen him, but he had never hurt me, never asked me to do anything that I hadn't wanted to do. I turned to look at him.

I kissed him gently, slowly. He ran his fingers through my curls, looking over my face as if taking it in. I brushed his hair aside.

"I'm sorry too," I whispered to him.


	10. Chapter 09 Heero

TV was like cancer for your brain. It rots it inside out, upside down, sideways, and underneath. And like everything else that is deadly to your health, it is completely addictive. You will watch things you wouldn't **want** to watch just because it is on TV.

"Christ, Heero man, I'll change the channel. Just, please, stop making that face," Duo laughed, flicking the sickeningly sweet Spanish soap opera away and landing on an infomercial.

"… and this whole set can be yours for only $19.95!"

"No way Bob! This **whole** set? Is that legal?"

"Yes, Jan, it is!"

"Oh God!" Duo moaned, changing the station again. "I don't know how one person can channel so much hate and anger into one compact glare."

"Lack of sex," Hilde said from next to him, eating popcorn.

"Hadn't thought of that one," Duo said. "Ooh. She's hot."

"Out of your league," Hilde said.

"Okay, at first, your cute little quippy comments were funny, now they're just annoying."

"Why do you have to be so defensive, Duo?" I asked, setting Hilde up.

"Lack of sex," Hilde responded, leaning over him to look at me with a nod, taking the cue.

"All right. That's it," Duo exclaimed and turned on her.

The remote went flying, the popcorn scattered and there was a scream as Hilde scrabbled to get away from Duo, but he was too quick. She shrieked with laughter as he tackled her. I sighed, watching them. They were idiots.

"Oh, wow. Now is such a bad moment to walk in on," Sally said from the door. "Sorry. I guess knocking might have been an idea, huh?"

Duo grinned up at her. "Come on, Sal. You know you want in on this."

"No thanks. I think I'll pass," she laughed.

Wufei walked in behind her. He gave Hilde and Duo a look, snorted and gave me a small nod. "What is that?"

"Duo," I replied. "Tea?"

"Thank you."

"Hey! I resent the fact that the entire act of foolishness before your eyes is summed up into my name," Duo said, pulling himself out of the pile on the floor. He helped Hilde up. "She was part of this too. In fact, she started it."

"Sugar?" I asked, half to provoke Duo and half because I needed to know if Wufei took sugar in his tea.

Wufei shook his head like I knew he would. Duo gaped at us.

"I was defending my honor. Wufei, of all people, I thought you'd understand that," he exclaimed, outraged at our lack of interest.

"What could she have possible said that was so offensive?" Wufei asked as Sally sat beside Hilde.

"I said, 'lack of sex,'" Hilde responded.

I handed Wufei a napkin, which he took.

"Would you stop playing Suzy Homemaker over there? This is a serious issue," Duo pressured, whining at me. "Jesus, I should buy you an apron."

"You're cranky," Sally said to him, taking the glass of water I handed her.

"Lack of sex," Hilde remarked with a nod.

Duo lunged for her and she squealed, shielding herself behind Sally.

We went out. To where was a mystery, but out nonetheless. Duo set off as if he knew where he was going and the rest of us followed, too lazy to make an argument. Sally and Hilde were talking amongst themselves. Bits of their conversation caught my ear.

"Eyes," Hilde said.

Sally gave a pleased moan of approval. "Eyes. Yes, eyes are nice. Dark, light, small, big, round, almond-shaped… eyes are nice."

I listened more intently. Wufei from next to me gave me a quick glance. He was listening too. Duo was looking ahead, looking for somewhere to eat. But I knew Duo, Duo wasn't stupid. Far from it. He was taking in every word.

"I like hair," Hilde said.

"Yeah, I guess, but hair can change any second."

"Shaggy hair. Hair that flops and makes you want to touch it. It makes you want to wash it. Like in those shampoo commercials. All sensual and sudsy."

Sally laughed. "Asses. Am I sick for thinking a guy has a gorgeous ass?"

"If you are, then I am too. Asses are nice. Two days ago, I went to the bank to deposit for the week and the guy standing in front of me had a great ass."

They went into detail on what the man's ass was like exactly. At that point, Duo caught my eye and made a slight gagging motion. They then moved on to who they knew who had nice asses. The electrician that came once to Preventer headquarters, James, one of the frequent customers of the scrap yard…

"You know who has a surpisingly nice ass?" Sally said.

"Hmm?"

"Quatre. I mean, he's thin, almost… gawky, but, to use Duo's expression, hot damn that man has a nice little backside."

"Oh yeah. Trowa has a superb ass. But, I guess you'd expect that with all the athletics he was into, being in the circus and all. Hey…"

There was silence for a second and then hushed giggling. I realized what was going and Duo caught my and Wufei's eye. They were checking us out. I could tell Duo was resisting the urge to prompt them.

He leaned over to whisper, "I feel like I should drop something and bend over."

I gave a small smile.

"So," Sally said loudly and we knew we'd been caught. "What do you boys like about girls?"

"I don't know, what do you expect us to say?" Wufei asked.

"Bobbies," Duo responded with a curt nod. "Big ones."

Hilde slapped the back of my head. "That was on behalf of all the small-breasted community."

Duo laughed and rubbed his head. "No, actually, I've never been a boob man. Big boobs are overrated."

"Sleep with me," Hilde said in an overly serious voice.

I saw an army of emotions run rampant over Duo's face for a moment before he clamped down on them and gave his usual smile. "Remind me when we get home."

"So, what do guys look at?" Sally asked again.

Wufei looked down at her for a second too long. I hid a smile. He shrugged. "It depends."

"What do you mean it depends?" Sally didn't sound mad, just curious. She was never one to be overly sensitive.

"Well, I mean, physically attractive is physically attractive and you can't deny that. But there are different types of attractiveness. There are some you don't even waste your time with because that's all they are, a waste of time. Like her for instance."

We all looked across the street at a young girl dressed in an overly short skirt with a low cut top and heels she could hardly walk in. She was very pretty, and had a gorgeous body, but the idea of her repulsed me. Wufei had pegged it perfectly.

"But I personally find the mouth very… enticing," Wufei responded.

"I'm not sure what my favorite feature is. It depends on the girl," Duo responded, sagely. I nodded my approval.

"Okay, so what do you think my best feature is?" Hilde teased and batted her eyelashes. "I bet it's my height. All long legs and willowy torso."

"You're eyes and your nose," Duo said quickly.

"My nose?" Hilde said, bringing a hand up to the feature in question.

"Yeah. It's a little pixie nose. It's cute. And your eyes say more than your mouth does. You express yourself with them. And as for your height, which you so brutally attacked, I think it's perfect. If you weren't small, I couldn't do this right." Duo wrapped her up in a tight hug and she was almost lost in his arms and shoulders. She laughed into his chest and gave a playful smack to his arm.

"He's right," I said. "For once."

"I resent that," he shot back.

"And Sally's?" Hilde asked.

"Wufei already said it, her mouth and her voice."

"Nice to know," Sally laughed.

"Hey, what about us?" Duo asked.

"These two don't want to know," Sally objected, waving a dismissive hand at me and Wufei.

We both stopped and turned to face them, blocking further progress. Duo laughed and stood in line with us.

"I think you're wrong," he said.

Sally laughed as well and shrugged at Hilde. "All right. You all three have gorgeous eyes."

"Smile," Hilde responded, pointing at Duo. Wufei was next and then me. "Arms and hands."

"Hands?" I repeated, slightly offended. "Why does he get smile and I get hands?"

"True, you do have this mind-blowing smile. But, hey, that's a compliment. Man." Hilde took one of my hands and examined it. I stared at her perplexed. "I mean, Jesus, they're really sexy. The way you use them. And they're nice and calloused and rough, like a guy's hands should be. Like if you used them to work hard at something, but they can be so perfectly gentle and when you're working at the yard or something, the way they move when you're fixing something or putting it together. Or when you cook, it's like water, all fluid and smooth."

"Okay, so back to my gorgeous and captivating smile," Duo interrupted and began walking again.


	11. Chapter 10 Quatre

I watched her as she bent gracefully to pick up the items scattered across the floor. She slipped her bra on, fumbled with the clasp for a moment, and then stooped for her panties. She slipped them on and stood, glorious and beautiful. Her curls were disheveled, but gorgeously framing her face still. She looked back at me for a moment as I lay on the bed, partially covered with my thick, down comforter. She gave a radiant smile and walked over to grab her skirt from the doorway. I loved that doorway. I sat up and pulled on a pair of boxers. She zipped up her skirt and walked over to me, giving a soft laugh and reaching up to run her fingers through my hair in an attempt to straighten it. Her fingers slid down to the nape of my neck, driving little shivers down my spine, and she carelessly played with a lock of hair there. She leaned up and kissed me softly.

"Don't look so sad Quatre," Cathy told me with a small smile. "I wasn't that bad, was I?"

I shook my head emphatically. "You know that's not it. I just…"

"Please," she murmured, trying to stop me.

I sighed and gave into her beseeching tone. "What about Trowa?"

"Trowa," she repeated. "Trowa loves both of us very much. You're as much a sibling to him as I am. To tell the truth, I think he'd be… happy. But, as things are now, I think this should be between you and me. I mean, you're this rich, gorgeous, famous guy and I'm… a knife thrower at a traveling circus. The press would be all over this and that's not good for either of us."

I thought about what she was saying. "Yeah. Publicity doesn't exactly make for the best relationship."

"So, this isn't over?" she asked, looking up at me.

I brought my mouth fiercely to hers and kissed her deeply. She sighed when we broke apart. "What do you think?"

"I think I don't quite believe you yet," she said against my lips.

I grinned and twisted her around so that she landed softly on the bed. She laughed, accepted my kiss, and lifted her hips as I pulled her skirt off again.

"You look absurdly happy."

I turned to the sound of the voice, tearing my gaze away from Cathy, Hilde, and Sally, talking and laughing on the couch. Duo sunk into a chair and stared at Wufei who turned a black stare on him. He shrugged.

"Okay, maybe _absurdly_ isn't the right word, but different. More relaxed. Like if all the tension was sucked out of your body. All the… sexual tension."

We all turned to look at Wufei, wondering if he would answer the unasked question. He stared at Duo some more.

"What are you asking, Maxwell?" Wufei inquired smoothly.

"You **know** what I'm asking," Duo responded with a telltale lift of a brow.

Trowa glanced at me quickly. I gave a minute shrug. Would this turn into a scuffle or a session of question and answer? Wufei rolled a shoulder and tore his gaze away.

"Ask her," he responded flippantly.

"Hey Sally," Duo called out. Sally turned on the couch to look back at him.

"Yep," she asked, resting her beer on the back of the sofa.

"You and Wufei have sex yet?"

"Yep. All night long."

I raised an eyebrow. Sometime it was hard to tell if Sally was joking or not. If she wasn't though…

"Are you… serious?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, are you?" Hilde repeated, leaning over to her friend.

"I don't know. How can we find out?" Sally asked with a devious smile. She tapped the rim of her beer bottle to her lips as if thinking hard about something. "How about you ask me some questions I would know only if I did."

We all sat back. This was dangerous territory. Wufei annoyed was one thing. Wufei embarrassed and angry was a completely different thing. Sally shot him a teasing glance from the corner of her eye before letting her gaze rest on the rest of us. She nodded at Heero.

"Go ahead, Heero," she practically purred. "You can have first crack."

Heero accepted the challenge, leaning forward in his chair and looking at Wufei, his hands cupped over his mouth and nose. Wufei met his gaze, waiting. Sally stood from her spot on the couch and stood next to her partner.

"There is a scar…" Heero started.

I knew the one. I'd never seen it, but I knew of its existence. Wufei never exposed the scar to anyone, partly because it was partly impossible unless he stripped down, and partly because the scar held a special significance he didn't like to talk about.

Sally smirked. "You mean this one?" She ran a hand tauntingly up Wufei's leg to his inner thigh, just short of groping and ran a finger along where the scar would have sat. More amazing was the fact that he let her.

"You had sex!" Duo cried.

"All night long," Sally repeated.

"You had sex?" Hilde exclaimed stomping over to stare at Sally. "When? How? And most importantly, how was it?"

"Hot damn," Wufei said unexpectedly, getting up and heading to the kitchen for another beer.

"Not fair. I want sex," Hilde pouted.

"Drop your pants," Duo said and the rest of us laughed.

"No seriously. Everyone around me is having sex. I want sex."

"No seriously. Drop your pants." When Hilde gave him a look Duo shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm not having sex, Heero's not having sex, Trowa… I don't think Trowa's having sex." To this Trowa just lifted a brow. "Quatre… if blond, beautiful, billionaire Quatre isn't having sex, you think we have a chance at getting laid? You're not having sex, right Quatre?"

I resisted the urge to look at Cathy, but I could feel her staring at me and I knew she had on a vicious smirk.

"Not at the moment."

"See. Why not, by the way?" Duo inquired and all eyes turned to me. "I mean, aren't girls like flinging themselves at you?"

"Yeah Quatre? Why not?" Cathy spoke up, gliding over to stand beside my chair with cat-like elegance.

I met her gaze. "Maybe I haven't found anyone worth while."

"Oh please. Have you seen that chick in your accounting department?" Hilde remarked. "She's always all over you and damn she's hot. And really jealous. She made some snide comment the other day when I came in. She afraid we're knocking boots?"

Cathy tilted her head. "Sounds willing enough."

"What's wrong Cathy?" I retorted. "Is this just a long way around of telling me that you want to get into my pants? Are you suffering from a lack of sex?"

Trowa shifted in his chair, but he wasn't angry. He was more interested in the verbal sparring than anything else. Duo was grinning and egging me on silently with looks from across the table. Heero sat back with his hands crossed over his chest, a small smile playing on his lips. Hilde was grinning widely. She'd told me once that she thought I'd be to bashful to talk about sex. She told me this after a long discussion we'd been having about the importance of foreplay. Sally was sitting in Wufei's now unoccupied seat. Wufei himself was behind her, now that the secret was out, he was carelessly twirling a lock of her hair between his fingers, watching with veiled interest in the exchange. And Cathy was still teasing me with her eyes. She shifted her weight, her hips sliding gently. I matched her look, waiting for her answer.

"Maybe. Maybe not. As for the getting into your pants, I wouldn't mind it."

I stood then, grabbed her hand and pulled her after me towards the front door as the others broke out into a series of giggles and dismissed the scene, turning back to other topics of conversation. I pulled the door open, pushed her out and followed. I waited a moment before poking my head back in and smiling.

"What do you guys want on your pizza?" I asked.

"Everything," Duo called back. "Except radishes."

"Do they put radishes on pizza?" Sally asked.

"They put everything on pizza. And I mean everything. One time-"

I closed the door on the conversation and turned to Cathy. I walked past her and she followed a few steps behind. We rode down the elevator in silence, not looking at one another, with a respectable distance in between. She shifted her weight again and flicked a curl out of her face. I ignored her and the heat that was working its way up my spine. I let her get out first and nodded to the when she looked back at me after having stepped outside the gate. She walked steadily in front of me. We walked about a block, down the relatively empty street towards the pizza place we always ate.

I grabbed her arm roughly and she gave a surprised yelp as I pulled her into a dark, small alley between two of the buildings. She giggled and fell against me, willingly meeting my mouth and kissing me. I smile as we broke and looked down at her in the dank gloom of the alley.

"Do you know what you cost me back there?" I asked in a husky whisper.

She grinned maliciously. "I'm willing to pay for any damage done."

"Are you?"

She nodded and took my hand in hers. She pressed it to her thigh and slid it slowly up until my fingers bent around and curved her backside. I tightened my grip and bent to take her mouth hungrily. Her fingers fumbled with the snap of my pants and I heard the faint sound of my zipper being undone. I kissed her neck, sucking lightly and she sighed contentedly, her mouth at my ear. She gave a small, shiver-inducing lick and my grip tightened. She was wearing another skirt, this one at mid-thigh, a respectable length, but tantalizing nonetheless. I found the bottom and slid my hand under it. She smiled cruelly when I discovered she was wearing only the skirt.

I flipped her around so that she was pressed up tight against the wall and took her there in the middle of the deserted, dark alley, people passing sporadically. It was a new thrill, that maybe some adventurous person would come in and see us, but they didn't. We were far back enough in the shadow to see but stay unseen by others. And the whimpers and moans she was making were low enough for only me to feed off. When she peaked, she opened her mouth, but held her cry, her nails digging into my shoulders, strangely adding to the pleasure, not taking away from it.

It wasn't until after I'd buttoned my fly and that lovely, heady air cleared from my head that a thought dawned on me. I whipped my head over to look at her. She was smoothing the wrinkles from her skirt. She tossed her hair back and met my gaze, a question in her eyes.

"Cathy we… I mean, I just realized that this whole time we've never-"

She stopped me with a smile and a quickly raised hand. "A regular period makes for better traveling."

"So you're…?"

"On the pill? Yeah," she nodded. She laughed. "Jesus, you looked so scared. Not ready to be 'Daddy' yet, huh?"

I thought about it and gave a small shrug. "I would just like to now when it would be coming."

"Hey, you won't offend me. I sure as hell am not ready to be 'Mommy' yet."

We started out of the alley in silence. I felt like a schoolboy as I shyly intertwined my fingers with hers. She looked up at me with a small, surprised smile and then leaned her head gently on my shoulder.

"Yet, huh?" I repeated. "So you have thought about it."

"Every girl thinks about it. Have you?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"And?"

"I want kids, maybe not right now, but sometime in the future. I really just want a family, the whole deal you know, wife, kids, dogs, cat, whatever. Again, not right this second, but I do."

Cathy smiled against my shoulder. "Me too."

I met Trowa for lunch the next day. We sat down in that comfortable silence we always shared and ordered. Trowa stared at me while the waiter set off to get the order in.

"You fixed it," he said, taking a sip of his water.

I finished swallowing and put my own glass down. "What?"

"Whatever the problem was between you and Cathy. You called her Cathy, not Catherine. She looked happy around you, easy. You did too."

I smiled at my friend. "The other day, when I went with her to the lake."

He nodded and there was once again the comfortable silence. After a long while he spoke again.

"Thank you."

I looked up at him. He had on a small, meaningful smile. I nodded. Then my brow creased and I leaned forward. "Can I ask a question?"

He gave a quick nod.

"Are you having sex?"

Trowa gave a laugh then and shook his head. "No."

"Have you had sex, though? I mean, before?"

He sobered. "Yes." He gave a shrug. "It relieves tension."

"I know." Several images passed through my mind. "It does. But I didn't really… I mean, it wasn't what it was supposed to be back then. It was a means to an end for a fifteen, sixteen-year-old boy."

"No. It wasn't what it should have been. I could have sex."

"Patricia?" Patricia was a regular client of the scrap yard. She obviously was interested in Trowa, but Patricia was a decent girl. She didn't hide like a little kid, all bashful and silly, but she wasn't overbearing and needy. She had asked him once if he was interested, he'd told her he wasn't politely. She smiled, asked if they could still be friends, that their yard was too good to get into problems with, and had maintained a good customer, leaning towards friendship, relationship with him.

He gave a nod. "It has to be different Quatre. It can't be a means to an end. 'Means to an end' is a soldier's priority. It should be something normal, something you want, something that means… something."

I smiled at my introverted friend. "You've changed Trowa."

He reciprocated my smile, leaning back to allow the waiter to set his food down before him. "Thank you Quatre."


	12. Chapter 11 Hilde

My eyes snapped open to a room as black as pitch. It was silent, completely silent, but I always knew. Maybe it was the smell, maybe just the presence, but I always knew. My feet touched the cold, wood floor of my room, but I got up without thinking about it. My eyes grew accustomed to the dark and in the hazy gloom, my furniture took shape. I made my way to the door, pulled it open silently and walked out into the hallway. The pictures that hung on the wall stared at me.

There was a picture of me and Duo when we first opened the yard. There was another of the five ex-pilots. Quatre and Trowa working on a motorcycle was hanging beside Heero scowling at a laughing Duo. There was another of me sitting atop Heero's shoulders, Wufei looking up at me as I held up a makeshift ping-pong trophy. But I didn't glance at the pictures. From the hallway I could see the downcast head, clutched in the anxious, white-knuckled hands.

Duo could be invisible. During the wars it was what made him so dangerous. After the wars it was what made him such a great practical joker. He knew how to move without making a sound, he knew how to disappear. He did it subconsciously too. One second he was in the kitchen behind you, complaining loudly about how there was no munster cheese for his sandwich and the next he was in his room, looking for something in his drawers.

I too had learned to step without making a noise during the wars, but I had to want to do it. I tread silently towards him, shifting my weight. His eyes were clutched tight and pain flitted across his face. My heart lurched in my chest.

"Duo?" I said softly.

His head snapped up at my voice and his blue orbs drowned me with emotion. I gave a sad smile. He reached out with one rough hand and took my own, tiny in comparison. He examined it as if it were something important, tracing my fingers with one of his then closing his hand tightly around it. He stood, making my look up at him, and the slowly pulled me to him in a loaded embrace. I held him tightly, his face cradled at the nape of my neck and he let go of a shaky breath.

"Come on," I murmured, not taking my arm from around him.

I led him silently back down the hallway to the end, where the door to my room lay. I pushed back the covers and he curled into the big king-sized, pulling my down with him. I curled to match his position, seeping into the grooves his body had made and he held me close, arms wrapped protectively around me. His breathing became heavy and steady. I fell asleep soon afterwards.

Duo was surprisingly awake and gone when I woke up. He was making breakfast, which was both surprising and dangerous. I rushed out into the kitchen at the smell of Canadian ham, prepared to yell and see a wall of flames where my countertop used to be. Heero looked up at me from his chair and offered me a mug of coffee. I sagged and accepted it, plopping into a chair.

"How long have you been here?" I asked.

"I came running out when I heard the stove being turned on and Duo cursed because he'd just finished burning himself."

"Wow, what a wake up call."

"Uh, my finger's fine by the way. Thanks," Duo spoke up.

We teased him, but Duo was a surprisingly competent in the kitchen. He didn't cook often, but when he did it was very good. He was better at barbequing more than anything, but he could handle eggs and ham. There was a semi-heavy silence in the air that none of us wanted to disturb.

It had been six years to the day. We were always closed this day and the next. The anniversary of the Eves War, and then the Mariemea Incident, was a bittersweet one for most. It was a loaded one for all of us, especially for the Gundams. Heero had an unreadable look in his eyes as he stirred his coffee. Duo was very focused on making breakfast and he didn't bother with trying to make small talk. He just sipped his coffee quietly, a forlorn look about him, his face eerie without its usual smile. But he was the best actor the world had ever seen and when he did talk, it was with his normal tone and his normal attitude, which made me wonder whether or not he was really like this at all sometimes. When was it a front and when was it Duo? I pushed the silly thoughts aside. I knew Duo, I knew when it was a front, just like I knew when he woke at four fifteen in the morning.

He handed me and Heero each a popped-egg sandwich with a dismal little smile and sat between us to begin eating. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but it was a heavy one. It was an understanding silence. A sad silence, a silence full of compassion of the burden we shared, a silence full of memories. A guilty silence.

I glanced over my shoulder and there, as I knew it would be, sat a faded red overnight bag by the door. It was worn with years of abuse, threads snagged and broken over its shabby frame. One of the black straps had ripped apart and had been mended. There were no logos, no initials. It was just red, muted and telling and filled with just enough to get one person by for one night. When I looked back, Heero met my gaze briefly and in his eyes, I saw what there once was. Not a man, not a boy, a soldier: dedicated to his mission, tortured by his kind compassion. Every year, Heero traveled down to Earth for night to visit Marshal Noventa's grave. He went alone. I never asked what he did or said there, and he never told me, but that was fine. We all carried our demons. The ex-soldier shifted slightly in his chair, putting down the now empty coffee cup.

"Leaving?" Duo asked, wiping his mouth with a crumpled napkin.

Heero gave a curt nod and turned to look at me. He stood in front of me and ran a rough hand through my hair, gently cupping the nape of my neck. He leaned forward and softly pressed his lips to my forehead in a sweet, lingering kiss.

"Bye Hilde," he whispered against my skin.

"Bye," I breathed.

He turned to Duo and the two men stood straight, facing each other. Then they exchanged a brief, fierce embrace and the next second Heero was closing the door behind him, the red bag clutched in his hands.

Duo he turned, his eyes clashed with mine. There was a heavy hollow look in them that sent chills up my spine and he sent me a smile that lacked everything a smile should have.

The house was absurdly quiet and it frightened me. Then a faint noise that it took me a few moments to recognize. The faint, almost inaudible click of the front door being closed.

"Duo."

Fear gripped me. No, I knew this would happen. Every year it got worse. Every year the nightmares began earlier and earlier. Every year, the smile lost a little more of its luster. Every year Duo, my Duo, the real Duo, broke away more and more. I shot up out of my bed and ran for the door. I threw it open, ran out into the hallway and glanced at the elevator. It was going down.

"Shit," I cursed, pushing the button frantically as if it would help.

It ascended painfully slow, as if taunting me. I was loosing precious seconds. Seconds I couldn't afford to lose. Finally, the doors dinged open and I catapulted inside, pressing the ground floor button. I tore out the door. It was raining.

I burst through the gate and into the pounding rain. It was falling in thick sheets. I was soaked instantly. My eyes scanned the hazy, hard to read street and I found him. He was hunched against the falling water, hands in his pockets and head hung low. I struck out to catch up to him. He wasn't far and I called out to him.

"Duo! Stop it and come back!" I yelled at him.

He slowed and I slowed, stopping a few feet from him. He turned to look at me and his eyes… his eyes were drowning. Drowning in pain and sorrow and the past… But he was still annoyed, angry that I followed him.

"Go back inside, Hilde, you're getting wet," he demanded.

"Don't do this Duo," I said to him, ignoring his comment. "Don't go out there like this."

He was not in the mood. "What's going to happen? I'm going to get hit by a truck? I think I'm a little smarter than that, Hilde."

"No, but if you go out there, I'll lose you."

He scoffed at me, running a hand through his wet bangs. They flopped forward again. "Are you seriously telling me that you're afraid I'm going to get lost in a city I know better than the back of my hand? You're not going to 'lose me.'"

I was pissed now. "Don't you tell me that I can't lose you. That's bullshit! I almost lost you once, what's to say it won't happen again? I'm not talking about getting lost **here** Duo, I'm talking about losing** you**! When you came back to me…" I was crying now, my tears mixing with the rain. "After the wars, you came back, but you weren't you. **You** were almost gone. There was nothing. Do you even know what it was like? Waking up and having to look at your shell?

"It was war, Duo! We all did things we aren't proud of, things that we didn't want to do. We all took the lives of others, and yeah, it's something that we'll have to live with for the rest of our lives, but we don't need to make it the rest of our lives. You think they would have cared? Hell no! They wouldn't have given a shit! They wouldn't have lost a moment of sleep over it. They would've killed you! They would've gone home and bragged about how they killed one of those rebel Gundam pilots, and they would've been treated like heroes. By this time, they wouldn't even remember your name, your face, when they killed you. And I hate them Duo, I hate them because they're still winning! They're still killing you, little by little, more and more.

"I gave everything to bring you back, but if you go out there… if you go out there, I don't think I'll have enough to give. I might never get you back again, and I can't live with out you Duo. What am I going to do if you leave me? So yell at me, scream at me, hit me, hate me, I don't care! But if you're going out there, I'm going with you."

He was staring at me, lingering traces of anger in his face. Then suddenly he lunged forward and pulled me to him. His mouth crashed roughly against mine. He was gripping tightly just below my ear, his other hand grasping the fabric of my jeans. He didn't ask for permission, he just parted my lips savagely with his tongue and ravaged me. I kissed him back, just as roughly, but submitting to him, to his need. I held tightly to his shirt. With one little movement, he lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He carried me effortlessly back to the house.

We barreled inside, sopping wet and not caring. We should have been freezing, but we weren't. We were on fire. He slammed me against the wall and I gasped, the kiss broken. But he found my mouth and kissed me once more. My legs still wrapped around him, he kept me pinned to the wall, his hands roaming over the wet fabric. He gripped a breast, firmly, but not roughly and broke his mouth from mine to kiss my neck and my collarbone. I gave a deep, pleasure-filled little moan. He set me down on the floor and yanked my shirt up and off, ridding himself of the most cumbersome barrier, then bent his head and kissed my wet chest.

It was frenzying. I clawed at the back of his shirt, pulling it over his head as he wrestled with my bra. He never got it undone because I pushed him up and around, walking backwards down the hall, our tongues still intertwined. He worked hurriedly on the snap of my jeans, heavy with water. He pulled away for a moment, just long enough to bend down and rip the pants off. I stepped out of them and my shoes, continuing backwards.

He thrust me against the doorframe, his hand grabbing my thigh and then moving up it. He twitched a finger into the wet fabric of my panties. I returned the favor, undoing him of his pants. He kicked them off blindly and squirmed out of his shoes with some difficulty. Mostly having to do with the fact that I had firmly grabbed him and was teasing him over the material of his boxer shorts.

Once the shoes were off it was as it he were free and I rewarded him with a well-measured squeeze. His mouth fell from mine, his head drooped, and he half gasped, half moaned. I did it again and this time he snapped his head up to meet me like an animal, pressing his mouth to mine and pushing me back into my room.

He finally managed to get the bra off and fell to the uncovered flesh of my breasts. With a quick, rough shove, he pushed me back onto my bed and crawled on top of me. I wiggled as he pulled down my underwear and then pulled his own off.

It was ecstasy. Pure and utter ecstasy when he slipped inside. I didn't have to tell him anything. He knew what rhythm, how fast, how hard, hard, but not hard enough to hurt me ever, which spots. I moved with him, against him.

Our breathing had quickened, as had our pulse, and I heard his whimpers, warm and moist in my ear. I was crying out freely, gouging his back with my nails. But he didn't stop, he gave more, until I tightened around him and then he bent his head to deliver a little kiss at the curve of my neck and went just a little further, just so that it was on the edge of pain, but definitely over the line to pure, pure pleasure, and then he let go and I yelled, and we both sagged.

He was lying on top of me still, but supporting his weight so that he didn't hurt me. He whispered my name once, twice, a third time and then he turned his head to place a slow, gentle, sweet kiss on my lips, nonetheless passionate, but all the more exciting for what it meant. I kissed him back, just the way he did, reciprocating his meaning. He was satisfied and he rolled off of me to lie beside me, still breathing hard. Once our breathing was normal again, he rolled onto his side to look down at me as he propped himself onto one elbow. With his other hand, he gently stroked my hair, taking in every detail of my face.

"You saved me you know," he whispered. "You always do."

I woke up the next morning, happily curled onto my regular pillow. It was a cold morning and I was neatly wrapped in my blankets. My eyes snapped open when I realized that I was still naked. I rolled around to look at the spot next to me where Duo was the night before. The spot was empty now, still marked with his impression and his scent. I gave a slow sigh.

I was an outlet. I knew that he hadn't meant to use me, but he'd needed to so badly he couldn't help himself. And besides, I had let him. Anything for a friend… Bullshit. I didn't want a friend, I wanted –

There was a quick knock on the door and then it was opened. "Hilde, I was wondering if you knew-"

Heero stopped suddenly as I gasped and clutched the covers up over me, looking extremely guilty despite the fact that I was alone in the bed. He blinked once and opened his mouth to speak when the door to my bathroom opened and Duo stepped out, buttoning his jeans. He stopped dead when he raised his head to see Heero in the door. Then he looked over at me, shifted uncomfortably and shrugged at Heero. He gave a small laugh, accompanied by small, very adorable, tilt of his head. Heero glanced from me to him and back.

"I'll come back later," he said finally and closed the door behind him.

I let out a sigh. "Well, if you wanted to keep this one-night stand secret, I think we blew it."

Duo's head snapped over to look at me. "One-night stand? Was that was it was to you?"

He sounded mad. I floundered. "Well, no… not… I don't know. I thought you-"

"Shut up," he said, shaking his head angrily and walking to the edge of the bed so that he stood directly in front of me. He cupped my face gently with his hands and looked down at me seriously. "I knew what I was doing last night Hilde, and I thought you did too."

"I did, I just-"

He cut me off. "I don't want to hear it because I know what you'll say and it pisses me off that you even think that way. You need to know that I've been crazy about you for a really long time. You have to know that. Look, this is all I want Hilde. I want you to stay with me. I'd do anything to keep you. But I'm not going to force you into anything you don't want to do." He paused, looking me over almost sadly. "So what do you want?"

What he said rolled around in my head. He wanted me.

"I want…" I paused. "I want… to know if you took a shower yet," I said with a wicked smile.

He was surprised for a moment and then his smile twisted to match mine. "No. Why?"

"Because you must still be all sweaty," I answered, seemingly innocent. "I am."

His grin widened and he pulled me out of the bed, kissing me, and backed into the bathroom, shutting the door.

It wasn't so much a shower as it was an excuse to reaffirm ourselves of the decision we'd just made. When we were done, he pressed his forehead against mine gently, looking into my eyes. The water from the showerhead poured over him and down onto me. He softly caressed my cheek with a calloused thumb.

"Does that mean you'll stay with me?" he asked.

"You moron," I said with a smile, kissing him quickly. "I've always been with you."


	13. Chapter 12 Dorothy

The receptionist stared up at me with a queer look from behind her enormous desk. However, she pressed the intercom button to announce me, another strange, bemused little look in her eyes. I gave her a smile that I realized was unintentionally cold. People had told me that my smiles were chilling, but there was nothing I could do about it. The more normal, warm, and heartfelt I tried to make my smile, the creepier it was. So I smiled another cold smile as she began to speak.

"Excuse me sir, your have your 12:00 appointment here to see you," she said unsurely.

He paused for only a second. "Send them in, please."

She hung up the phone, surprised, and nodded towards the big oak door to her right. "If you please…"

I nodded a confirmation at her and started towards the grandiose door. I pulled it open and stepped inside. My shoes were muffled by the beautiful, plush carpeting under my feet. The office was large, beautiful in its simplicity. There was a bookshelf with binders of all sorts and sizes. On the opposite wall were two large black file cabinets. Near the center of the room was a black couch with a glass table set up before it, a simple plant in the center. There were two comfortable-looking black leather chairs facing a desk that had no rival in size, no match in craftsmanship, and no tie in beauty.

He was there, sitting with his head down, submerged completely in his paperwork. He hadn't noticed me yet. He finished signing some documents and read them over once more, setting them aside and reaching for a stack of papers that were on the edge of his desk. I knew what they were. I had faxed him my resume early this morning. He hadn't looked at it yet, let alone through it. The coversheet was simple, his name printed and a small note asking him to look over the following resume if he was interested.

"Please come in," he said, still not looking up to see me. Now he took the papers, thinking he could skim through the stack quickly before I realized he hadn't had the time to do it beforehand. "I apologize for my rudeness, I wasn't-"

His voice trailed away when he read the name that was written on the resume. He was clutching the papers tightly now, jaw dropping slightly and shock seeping into the clear blue-green eyes. He finally looked up at me.

"Dorothy?"

I gave a hesitant smile. "Hello Quatre."

He was staring at me, over me, as if to make sure I was real, really here, standing in his office before him.

"I can't… there are too many questions, I don't know which one to start with." He blinked, looked again, and then composed himself. He met my gaze, a small smile playing at his lips. The one he did start with was not the one that I had imagined. "How have you been?"

"Okay," I answered after a pause. "I know you're well."

He gave a small laugh and stood, tossing the resume down. He walked around his desk to perch himself at the edge of it, hands slipped casually in his pressed pants pockets, and he regarded me again. "You look great. It's been a long time."

I nodded, taking in a deep breath. "It has." He looked at me waiting, and I hesitated before speaking. When I finally did, it all came out in a rush. "I came because… well, I came for a lot of reasons and I should have come before. I read a few days ago that you were hiring here at your L2 headquarters and I finally found the excuse I needed to come in and see you. Maybe, if I finally got myself down here, I'd be able to-"

"You're hired," he cut me off.

I stopped and looked up at him, taken aback. "Excuse me?"

"I said you're hired."

"You haven't even looked at my resume."

"I know what you can do, Dorothy Catalonia."

I looked him over again. Quatre Raberba Winner hadn't just grown physically. He had grown in many other ways. Gone was the childish innocence and naivety, the idealistic dreams and the fanciful whims. Here stood a man, prepared for the gruesomeness of life on all levels, happy and confident in his world. I gave him a smile, which he reciprocated. He looked down at his watch.

"Why don't we get some lunch and talk salary?"

The restaurant was a nice affair with soft music and private, secluded tables. They sat us immediately in a comfortable corner, easily overlooked and took our order quickly. The food was prompt and delicious. It was obvious that Quatre had influence in this place. We chatted over all the business affairs first. Salary was quickly decided on. He asked if I had an apartment or house on the colony, to which I said no. He told me that I could stay in a company suite until I found something.

"What exactly am I being hired to do?" I asked as I ate my salmon.

Quatre swallowed before answering. "Like I said, Dorothy, I know what you can do. I know your strong points, and your weak ones. I'm not looking for a secretary or an assistant to the financial department. You'd be VP of operations and director of public relations." He began listing all the requirements of the job. He looked at me when he was through listing the things expected of the prestigious position. "I'm asking you to be my business partner, my second in command. I'm glad you came along Dorothy, because I don't think anyone else would fit the job."

There was silence for a while as we finished off our plates and wine.

"Aren't you going to give me some pamphlets or something? I mean, what do I know about the inside workings of the Winner Corporation?" I asked.

"Everything there is to know, save some technicalities. You don't fool me, Dorothy Catalonia. You never come unprepared."

I smiled. "When do I start?"

"Is tomorrow too soon?"

"No."

The waiter cleared our plates for us and just like that, business was over. Quatre turned to me. Now the conversation would become personal.

"Why are you here, Dorothy?" he asked. "I mean, I understand that this is a good job opportunity, but, why are you really here?"

"Don't you know?" I asked quietly.

"I think so." But he didn't give, he just waited.

I sighed. "I came because I had to. I came to apologize." There was a long pause. "You told me once I was kinder than you. I still think you're wrong."

"I don't," he responded.

"I'm sorry," I said after a long while.

"I know Dorothy. So am I." I met his gaze, which he held for a few serious seconds, and then he smiled. "Where did you go?"

"A lot of different places. I traveled for a long time, never really settling down. For a while, I was on Earth, in France, working as a manager for a law firm. I jumped around from place to place. So long as it had access to the weekly news, I was fine. You don't realize how much of this stuff in the news is crap until you research it yourself."

Quatre laughed. He asked more questions, which I answered with growing anxiety. After a few minutes, it was too much and I couldn't hold back anymore.

"Why don't you ask me **that** question Quatre? The one we both know should be asked?" He stared at me as my walls crumbled to the ground and I leaned forward, continuing in an intense, barely controlled whisper. "What gives me the right to come back? What business do I have in a world of peace, a world I almost ruined? Why should I sit here before you, alive and unharmed, when I almost took your life with my own hands?"

There was a heavy silence as he stared at me coolly. After a pregnant pause, he didn't ask. He answered.

"Because I want you to."

The office that was given to me was nice, the decorators that came to dress it up were not. They wanted something light, cheery, and ultra feminine in the office. I didn't. I told them what I wanted, they'd scoffed as if I were the most unfashionable being alive and had begrudgingly obliged. Little did they know that during my younger years in school I had taken two years of mandatory classes in interior design, fashion design, and decorating. They took my "suggestions," as they called them, and ran with it. In the end, they managed to slip in a few items, not of my taste. I eyed them coldly, but said nothing let them have their small victories here and there.

The company suite was spacious and had a fabulous view over a grandiose lake with a ferry that ran a track around it a few times a day. I didn't bother to unpack. I found an apartment that suited my taste before hand and had made an offer. I was moving in two days after I had started working for Quatre. I was given an assistant, a sweet little redhead named Nadia that just graduated high school. She was naïve, bubbly, talkative, a bit air-headed, and every time Quatre was around very, very attentive to him. He pretended not to notice, was very kind to her, but for the most part treated her for what she was. A young admirer, fanatical and flirty.

I'd been there only a short period of time, very short, and already my work was piling up. I hit the intercom, buzzing Nadia to tell her I'd be back, and got up from my desk. My and Quatre's offices were the only two on the fifth floor, either office at one extreme of the narrow hallway. However, hidden between the two offices was another small hallway that led to the bathrooms and connected our offices. I opened this door, walked across the hall and opened Quatre's door after two knocks. The office was empty and I remember him telling me he was going out to lunch. I shook my head, walking in without a sound.

On the corner of his desk were the papers I had asked him to sign off. They were adorned with his light, professional handwriting and had his airy signature on it. I grabbed the stack of papers, pushing a lock of hair behind my ear as I scanned them over quickly. I nodded to myself satisfied, and I turned to leave…

And froze.

I had only seen the face once, but it was engraved in my memory. Here, with the bright sunlight coming in through the large, scenic window, the face looked very different from the first and only time I had seen it. I tried to move, swallow, anything, and found I could do nothing but think what he could possible think of me.


	14. Chapter 13 Trowa

She was wearing a very flattering charcoal off-the-shoulder sweater with a ridged texture and a black pencil skirt, form-fitting, but not tight, that ended just above her knees. Her heels were peep-toes with a black button to one side, and they looked as if they were made of tweed, charcoal with black, olive, and red threads mixed in. From her ears hung delicate, long silver chains and on her wrist was a simple silver watch. Her hair was loose, and just as long as when I had last seen her. Her watery, powder blue eyes and pink lips were done up with a slight amount of make-up placed in all the right places. She was staring at me, stunned.

"Mr. Barton," she finally managed to say in her normal, high-class, breathy voice.

"Miss Catalonia," I replied, hiding my own surprise.

She glanced down at the papers in her hand almost guiltily, as if she'd been caught doing something wrong. "I… Quatre hired me a little more than a week ago."

"You've kept yourself well hidden all this time," I said. "But then again, I should have expected that from you."

Something heavy flashed in her eyes and she bent her head. Remorse? From Dorothy Catalonia? She looked back up at me then, a haunted look in her eyes that I knew had never been there in the past. "What are you doing here? Forgive me, it's none of my business. I should…" She turned to go.

"I was going to see," I called out, halting her with my voice and she froze, then slowly turned back to face me again, "if Quatre wanted to go to lunch."

"Oh," she said lightly, back on safe, comfortable ground. "He just left about twenty minutes ago. I think he had other plans."

"You look hungry," I there out there, watching her face closely.

She met my gaze, searching my face and finding something new. She was surprised… and pleased. She gave a smile, something that to the common public would have been considered cold, but something that I considered genuine.

"Starved."

She was very over dressed for where I took her. I, with my grease stained white t-shirt and my ratty, worn mechanics pants, however, fit right in. The lunch crowd was speckled with businessmen here and there, but it was mostly grease monkeys like myself, and high school kids on their winter breaks. When we got to the head of the line, the counter help, a teenage girl, with at least sixteen piercing on her head alone, smiled at me.

"Hey Trowa, how's it going? Didn't see you in the crowd. Where's the rest of the gang?" she asked.

"At the shop, working still working. Or at least, Heero and Hilde are probably still working. Duo's probably eating leftovers or his own arm."

The girl, Gigi was her name, laughed. "He and Hilde bang each other yet?"

I nodded, hiding a grin. "They finally got it together."

"About goddamn time. Jesus Christ. What can I get you?"

I placed my order and looked back at Dorothy. She shrugged, her aristocracy serving her no use here, and I ordered for her. Gigi called the order over her shoulder to a trio of guys making the food behind her and took my money. She gave me my change with a small smile and we made room for the next person in line. While waiting at the counter, Gigi continued to talk.

"So who's your fancy friend, ain't you gonna introduce me?"

I gave an apologetic smile. "Gigi, this is Dorothy Catalonia." The two girls gave small waves at each other as Gigi continued working on autopilot. "She works with Quatre."

"He still hot, rich, and single?"

I gave a small laugh. "Rich, yes. Single, to my knowledge. As for the hot…"

"That's always yes," Gigi said.

"Hey Trowa. How's it hanging. Enjoy," one of the cooks, Trevor said, handing me a Styrofoam platter with our food.

"Thanks. See you Gigi," I responded.

"Later."

Dorothy followed me to one of the tables against the window of the small restaurant. She sat in the plastic chair, poised as a porcelain doll, and watched as I handed her two wrapped up items and a paper cup full of soda.

"Thank you," she said, unsurely.

I watched amused as she unwrapped the first item. She didn't look disgusted or arrogant, simply lost. Like this was a whole new process for her. She stared down as her food was finally unveiled.

"It's a hotdog, Miss Catalonia, not poison," I said, taking a bite of my own.

"I know, I'm sorry if I was being rude, Mr. Barton," she replied, still not touching the hotdog. She was staring at the melted cheese that was oozing over the bread and onto the foil wrapper, perplexed.

I hid an amused smile. "Please, call me Trowa."

"Only if you stop calling me Miss Catalonia. It makes me feel like I'm in school."

"You've got a deal… Dorothy." She was still staring at the hotdog. I looked form her to it and back. "It's dead, Dorothy. You can touch it. It's not made of real dog."

"Oh I know," she responded with a nod, transfixed by the steaming, overly yellow cheese draped over the meat. "It's just…" I stared at her, waiting. "Well, it's just that… I've never eaten a hotdog before."

I took in her words for a full two seconds before I threw my head back and laughed for a long time. Dorothy stared at me, a smile creeping onto her face. She waited for me to finish laughing and then shrugged.

"Well, in that case, you really don't want to know what a hotdog is made of," I said, still laughing a little bit.

"Well that's… reassuring. Thank you for taking me to such a lovely little place and laughing at my ineptness. Now show me how to eat this… thing."

I started giggling again, which turned out to be contagious because Dorothy began to giggle too. "I can't believe you've never eaten a hotdog before. Just… grab it."

"Grab it?" she repeated.

"Grab it," I replied, demonstrating with my own hotdog. She watched me chew with one eyebrow cocked. Then she sighed and twitched her brow.

"Grab it. Okay."

She daintily put her fingers around the bun and lifted it off the tray, droplets of cheese left behind on the foil. She brought the hotdog up to her mouth and looked up at me as if for approval. I nodded her on. She opened her mouth and slowly took a bite. I watched her as she chewed.

"Oh my God," she said, her voice muffled as she brought a hand up to cover her mouth. She swallowed. "This is delicious." She took another big bite and moaned happily. "Jesus. Why didn't Cook ever make these at home?"

I smiled. "Here."

I squirted some ketchup onto the foil and motioned for her to dunk the hotdog into it. She did so and another happy moan escaped her. I watched her devour the first hotdog as I finished my second. I handed her some fries. She tried them too, scooping up the excess cheese with the fries. I stole some cheese and she gave me a false glare. After marveling over her root beer, she ripped open the next hotdog and stared down at it.

"What is this?" she asked.

"That's a chili cheese dog."

"I've never had chili before either," she said, shaking her head as she looked at me with wide eyes. We both started giggling like idiots then as she picked up the hotdog. She bit into this one and reveled. I laughed harder. She almost spit out her food, taking huge gulps of air to stop her own laughing. When she finally swallowed, she laughed with me and shook her head.

"Aristocracy sucks," she managed to say between laughs.

"I can't believe you've never eaten chili!"

"You ass! Stop laughing at me."

But she laughed all the same as she finished her second hotdog, licking the chili off her beautifully manicured fingers.

"Want to try another?" I asked.

"Um…" she looked eagerly at the counter and then back at me with a little shrug.

"Hey Trevor," I called out to him.

"Tell me," he called back, wiping his hands on his apron.

"Can I have an all-around?" He turned, worked at something for half a minute and then tossed a foiled hotdog to me. "How much do I owe you?"

"On the house."

"Thanks. Here you go."

Dorothy ate the last hotdog. I watched amused, as she delighted in the simplest of pleasures. When she was finally finished and began balling up the now empty foils, I spoke again.

"Do you want to go somewhere?"

She looked at her watch for a second. Then she met my gaze. "I don't know. I have to get back to work. Don't you have to get back too?"

"They won't care and if I know Quatre, he won't either."

"Maybe, but I just started. Won't they think-"

"Since when does Dorothy Catalonia care what anyone else thinks?"

Something flashed in her eyes briefly. "I'll get in trouble."

"You're second in command. Who is going to say anything to you?"

The streets were curiously empty. Even on a business day, there should have been more life about, but for the most part, it was just Dorothy and me. She walked beside me quietly, heels tapping on the pavement. I turned into the opening of a small park, empty of all living beings at the moment, and Dorothy followed. We walked down the small, beaten pathway, my hands behind my back, hers crossed primly in front of her.

And then all of a sudden it began to rain. We stopped dead in our tracks and looked up, water splashing on our faces.

"I'm guessing you didn't watch the weather report this morning," she said.

"No," I answered.

"Me neither. It looks like they scheduled rain."

"Yes."

She nodded. "Is it just me or are you wet? Wet and freezing?"

I laughed and grabbed her hand, feeling what I imagined a schoolboy would have felt like running around in the rain, and led her towards shelter.

"Wait, wait!" she pleaded, hopping behind me as she took her heels off. She finally retched them off and ran behind me, head bent against the downpour and laughing.

"This way," I said, making a sharp left off the path. We pushed past bushes, under trees and to a small, unnoticeable cave, the entrance partially covered by two thick bushes. I pushed back the branches and jumped down the lip of the cave, landing in the dirt below with a grunt. I turned back as Dorothy threw her shoes into the cave behind me and reached out to me. I held out my arms, grabbed her by her waist, and swung her down beside me, the leaves whipping back into place above us.

The cave was empty, the only echoed and amplified sound our breathing. There was a little bit of light coming in from the opening, but it was mostly gloomy, shadows falling from the walls. Dorothy gave a small laugh as I met her gaze. We were sopping wet, water dripping from our hair and clothes. She was shivering.

"Jesus," I muttered, rubbing warmth into her arms. "Here." She let me peel off the wet coat she was wearing.

"Thank you," she chattered. "Aren't you cold?" I shrugged, avoiding an obvious lie. "At least take off your shoes and socks."

I complied. "How much did that skirt cost?"

She understood immediately and plopped onto the floor. "Not enough to keep me from sitting. I'll dry clean it."

I sat beside her, resting against the wall of the cave. We weren't touching, but I could feel her body heat radiating off her skin from even this distance. Her perfume mixed with the smell of fresh rain gave the air a sweet scent. She had one knee up, the other leg folded under it. She hugged her knee, resting her chin on it and staring at the cave wall in front of her. Her hair fell forward, not blocking her face, but shielding it from clear view. For a long, long while we sat in silence listening to the sound of the rain pounding outside.

"Why are you here with me?" she asked suddenly in a tortured whisper, the small sound amplified by the cavern walls. I said nothing. "Why did you bring me here?"

I paused for a moment and opened my mouth. "Because-"

She cut me off with a shake of her head, sending the platinum looks shivering in waves over her shoulders. "You know what I mean. You **know**."

"I know."

"Then why? Why are you so nice to me? How can you laugh with me and take my hand and be near me when you know what I did, what I tried to do? What I almost did." There was a long moment of silence and when she spoke again, it was in a steady voice, but one that was being forcibly kept that way. "I thought I loved war. I didn't really. I loved my father. I loved him very much. When he died…" her voice cracked for a moment, and then it was normal again. "When he died, I didn't know what to do and in the end, I twisted everything around. I ended up claiming to love the thing that stole him from me.

"Treize hated war too, you know. He was my technically my cousin, but more like my older brother. I know that to all of you he was the enemy, and with good reason, but to me… He believed in you. In all five of you. He believed that you were going to save us all and he was right. I never heard him speak better about anyone else. He set up the entire ruse so that in the end, you would all succeed. He sacrificed himself, you know."

She was silent for a moment as she put a hand on the ground on either side of her. I looked at her and I realized suddenly that she was crying. Dorothy Catalonia was crying. She spoke again in a tear-filled voice. "I miss him sometimes. I miss him so much." She sobbed then, hanging her head and crying freely. Her face was covered by her hair.

After a moment I reached out and took her hand in mine. She glanced up, shock clearly written on the beautiful features. I smiled genuinely at her, pushing her hair out of her face and wiping the tears off her cheek with my thumb.

"I'm here with you because I want to be," I said softly.

She stared at me before giving a shaky smile, sniffing, and responded. "Quatre said the same thing."

My smile widened and she rested her head against my shoulder, her fingers still intertwined with mine. She played with my fingers gently for a while, as I rested my head lightly against hers.

"They'd be proud of you," I said softly against her hair.

"You think?" she whispered back.

I shook my head slightly, as best I could against her. "I know."

I woke up in slightly damp clothes, something warm pressed against me. Dorothy was still asleep. There was a fresh breeze coming through the opening of the small cave. I shifted a little and my sore muscles cried out to me. I ignored the pain. Dorothy murmured slightly, shifted her head, and opened her eyes. For a moment, while she grew accustomed to the dim light, she was confused. Then she jerked up and knocked her head against the wall behind her.

"Ah!" she cried out and bit her lip. She raised a hand to the sore spot and looked up at me. Last night registered back to her and she gave a faint smile. "Good morning."

"Morning. Sleep well?" I asked.

"Mental note: Never sleep cramped in a cave again."

"Ditto." She started as my phone rung and I hid a smile. "Hello?"

"Hey buddy, where'd you disappear to last night?"

"Hello Duo. Was it busy yesterday?"

"Not really, just being nosy."

"Duo! I told you to leave him alone."

There was a sharp smack on the other end and a faraway "Ow! That one hurt!" then a slight scuffle and finally Hilde's voice.

"Sorry Trowa," she said with an exasperated sigh and I knew she was glaring at Duo. "You know Duo."

"Don't worry about it. So what are you guys up to?"

"We were all going to the – AH! NO!"

I heard the phone drop, then a shriek, another call, and a thud. Then someone grabbed the phone again and this time, Heero spoke into the receiver.

"Trowa?"

"Duo tackled her?"

A sigh. "Yes. We're going to walk around the pier."

"You three?"

"Quatre went to go pick up Cathy and Sally and Wufei were going to meet us there. Do you want to join us?"

I looked at Dorothy, who was watching me. She gave a little smile. She couldn't hear what was being said.

"Sure. I'll catch up to you. I have someone with me."

"Fine. Hold on." There was jostling as the yelling and thumping became louder, then a giggle and muffled noises. "We'll meet you there."

I hid a smile as I said goodbye. I looked at Dorothy. "Want to go for a walk?"

I waited for Dorothy at a small hotdog stand at the entrance to the pier. She showed up exactly on time, in dry clothes with a small smile. Without heels on she was shorter, short enough to have to look up to meet my gaze. She gave a hesitant smile up at me.

"Ready?"

She thought a moment before giving a little nod. "Let's go."

The others greeted her warmly. When Wufei finally registered, something passed across his face, but he clamped down on it and gave a rare smile with a soft greeting. It was guilt. Wufei had been the one to kill Treize. It was a battle he had been expecting to loose. Dorothy got swept up into conversation first by Quatre, then by Cathy, then Duo took over. Quatre walked beside me.

"You took her to lunch?" he asked.

"She needed it."

"She's different." He looked at me for a moment as we stopped a little behind the others who had paused to converse. "Only fitting."

Hilde came over to us with a smile. "Okay, we're making a pot. How long until Dorothy pushes Duo into the water?"

Quatre bit his lip, looking over her head. "Uh, I don't think that's a very good pot."

"Why not?"

"Well, one because Dorothy has very little patience and two because…" he pointed, "she just did."

"What?" Hilde exclaimed and wheeled around. She bustled over to Dorothy, who was looking surprised at herself and embarrassed for having shoved Duo off the pier, and Heero who wasn't even trying to hide the smile on his face. "Damn it! Couldn't you have controlled the urge for another three minutes?"

Dorothy was flabbergasted. "I'm so sorry, I-"

But Hilde had turned to Duo who was spluttering and treading water. "And you! Couldn't you have been less annoying?" Now she wheeled around to face Heero who had his palm out towards her. She slapped a bill into it. "I hate you. You and your correct guessing. I should've known that Duo was much to annoying to have lasted five whole minutes."

"Hey, I'm completely lost. I said ten," Cathy remarked.

Heero grinned wider. "Come on Dorothy. I'll buy you lunch."


	15. Chapter 14 Duo

"I'm still wet," I griped, ringing the water out of my shirt.

"You still owe me twenty bucks," Hilde muttered, glaring up at me.

I decided that now was a good time to shut my mouth. I grinned down at Hilde. She maintained the glare for another five seconds and then shoved me with a smile. I put my arm around her and kissed her forehead. She shoved me away.

"Oh, you are still wet," she remarked, shaking her hand dry.

I smiled. "Sorry."

"Yeah, well," she murmured as she walked out of the elevator and towards the front door.

I paused as the elevator doors slid shut behind me, hands in pockets, and watched her as she unlocked the door. I smiled to myself. She turned to look at me as the door swung open. She gave a confused, self-conscious smile.

"What?" she asked.

"You're really gorgeous, you know that?"

She stopped. "What?"

"You're really gorgeous." I walked over to her and brushed her hair out of her eyes. She was staring up at me and she took in a quivering breath, her eyes closing for a moment as I stroked her cheek before looking back up at me. "Perfect. Why are you with an idiot like me?"

She leaned up slowly, until she was mere millimeters away, so close I didn't know whose breath was whose. And then softly, her lips met mine, and my eyes fluttered closed. Her mouth parted under mine and she gently lapped inside my mouth. I gave a small shiver. The kiss was tantalizingly slow, making every nerve-ending stand at attention. It felt like I'd just been struck by lightning. But then an eagerness rose from use mutually and the kiss became more and more intense. My arms were wrapped around her and her own were clutching at my neck tightly as if she was afraid I would pull away.

The bedroom was too far and Heero wouldn't be home for another hour or so. I moved a leg slightly and she walked backwards until the couch was under us. I felt her hands lift off my shirt and, as I wiggled to get out of it, we lost our balance and rolled to the floor. I landed on my back with a thud and a sharp, "Oof!" and Hilde looked concerned, but we both started laughing. She finally pulled the damp shirt over my head and smiled. She bent to leave a fiery trail of kisses down my abdomen and then met my mouth again. She lifted her head up, straddling my waist and grinned sweetly as she pulled her sweater over her head. After she'd finished undressing herself, she rid me of the remainder of my clothes. I shifted, ready to roll atop her, but she placed two small hands on my chest and pushed me back down. She gave a small shake of her head, the smile of a temptress, and slowly slid down onto me. She tossed her head back, gave a breathy groan, and took my hands in hers, placing them on the smooth flesh of her hips. I held her in place as she rode me.

The rhythm, like the kiss, began painstakingly slow. But it grew to a frenzying intensity. When she was ready, she let me know and I whispered her name, her back arching, her hands gripping my arms tightly.

I wrapped her up tightly, pulling the throw off the couch and over us. She nestled her head comfortably into the groove of my neck and shoulder. After a long while, her breathing became heavy and regular. I stroked her hair gently and buried my face in it. She adjusted slightly in her sleep and I held her tighter.

"Don't ever leave me, Hilde. You don't know how much I need you."

I woke to the sound of a knock on the door.

"You guys decent?" Heero asked from the other side of Hilde's closed door.

I looked down at Hilde who was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She sat up, not at all decent, which was the way I liked it.

"Give me a minute, Heero," she called out just before I kissed her roughly. She smiled at me and walked to the closet where she pulled out a robe. I grabbed some boxers from a drawer in the dresser and shoved them on.

"Yeah," I called out.

Heero tentatively opened the door, as if he didn't believe we were dressed yet. He walked in once he saw it was true. He looked at Hilde.

"Sally called for you. I told her you were asleep and she asked me to tell you, quote unquote, 'Tell her to get her lazy ass out of bed and that I'll be there in five minutes. If she's not ready, I'm dragging her out as is, I don't care if all she has on her is Duo.'"

I grinned and looked at my girlfriend with a raised brow. Her lips twitched into a smile. "That's Sally for you. Thanks Heero, I'll be ready."

"No problem."

He walked out, closing the door after him. Hilde took off the robe and headed to get dressed. I grabbed her from behind and kissed just below her ear. Her eyes closed.

"Mm," she moaned with a happy smile. "That is sinfully delicious."

She turned in my arms to face me, skin on skin, nearly driving me wild. I bent to kiss her for a long moment. She pulled away. Or at least, she tried to. I held her tightly. She laughed.

"Come on, Duo. I don't want to see if Sally is serious about her threats. If I know Sally, she is," Hilde warned.

I tried a pout, which she firmly ignored with a scowl, and then sighed, letting her go. She put on a bra and some panties, then she pulled out a long-sleeved t-shirt and some jeans. I handed her the coat she always used, but held it away from her so that she had to lean in to grab it. She met my mouth, kissing me slowly, and took the coat.

"Thanks, babe," she said.

"Babe?" I gave a wide smile. "That's the first time you've ever called me babe."

"I'm sorry. I'll stop if you want." She looked worried and it made me laugh.

"No, no, I like it. Don't stop. Please. It's… sweet." I kissed her nose as she headed towards the bathroom to brush her teeth.

Over the sound of the faucet, I heard her call out as I was getting dressed. "So what are you boys going to do alone? Don't burn down the apartment, please."

"We'll try and control the raging bonfires that will be started in your absence. Don't worry, Hil, we'll be okay. If I remember clearly, we survived on our own before you. Not well, admittedly, but we did."

"So what are you doing?"

I shrugged, not that she could see me, and bounced into the second leg of my worn, dark jeans. "I don't know. Whatever I guess."

I heard her spit, rinse, and shut the water off. After another minute, she came out fresh faced and awake. She opened the door and I followed her into the kitchen. Heero had bagels, toast, butter, jelly, cream cheese and coffee waiting in the kitchen. I smiled a quick thanks, grabbed my plate and sat to eat. Hilde ate quickly.

There was one knock on the front door and then Sally poked her head in, her body following. Wufei was after her.

"Hey," she said, grabbing some toast and smearing butter on it.

Heero offered Wufei a mug of coffee, which he accepted after a wave hello.

"Where are you girls going?" I asked. Hilde shoved my feet off the extra chair so that Sally could sit. Wufei stood behind her, sipping his coffee.

"To get dresses," Sally replied before biting into her toast.

"Dresses? Why?"

Hilde sighed. "Quatre's thing… remember?"

I thought for a second. "Oh, that whole fancy shmancy party thing. Some public relations blah, blah, blah. What do you need dresses for? Don't you have some?"

"No," Hilde drawled.

"Yeah you do, you have the yellow one with the little, strappy thingies," I said, running a thin line over my shoulder to demonstrate the straps.

"Duo, that's a sundress," Hilde said, talking down to me as if I was an idiot.

"Key word: Dress. Wear that. You look good in that."

"Are you nuts? This is a friggin gala," Sally said with a contemptuous laugh. "You can't wear sundresses to gala events."

"Why not?"

"Why not? Because – You know what. We're going. See you boys later," Sally said, standing with Hilde. She kissed Wufei and Hilde kissed me and then they were out the door talking about how Cathy was going to meet them there and Sally shook her head, murmuring something about sundresses and the idiocy of men.

Heero and Wufei turned to look at me. They knew, as well as I did, exactly what a sundress was and why you couldn't wear it to a gala. I grinned widely.

"Why do you do that?" Wufei asked.

"Purely to piss them off."

We called Trowa and Quatre over and watched a soccer game that was on, downing beers and doing what ordinary guys do when they're left to do what they please. Nothing. The game ended, the beers were gone, but we sat still, not really needing to speak. I looked at my watch. It was almost six and the girls still hadn't come back. My stomach growled and the other four glanced at me.

"Anyone else hungry?"

"Yeah," Trowa remarked, leaning back on the loveseat, swirling the last of his final beer in its bottle.

Heero glanced back towards the sliding glass door leading to the wide balcony/patio. "There still any gas for the grill?"

"Barbeque. Yes. Perfect," Quatre said.

"I think so," I said and Wufei rose to go check with me. He bent at the grill after I'd unlocked the door. He pulled open the valve and shook his head. "Or, you know, not."

Wufei stood and wiped his hands together. "Quick trip to the store will solve it. Get some more beer too."

"And steaks and seasoning and everything else. I don't mind cooking." We looked around helplessly at each other.

Heero sighed and stood. "Fine."

Trowa headed after him. "I'll go with you."

They were back faster than you'd ever have imagined, but it didn't surprise us. Heero and Trowa were notorious for being very focused on the task at hand. They'd loaded up all the groceries into the elevator and locked it open. Quatre and Wufei helped bring in the rest as I started sorting out what I needed to grill. Heero put everything else away in the cupboards. Wufei helped me at the grill. We were halfway through the steaks, Quatre just finishing mashing potatoes, when Sally, Cathy and Hilde walked in. They sniffed the air with smiles.

"What is this?" Hilde asked, arms laden with way too many bags. She walked to her room before anyone answered to put down her load.

"Duo can cook?" Cathy asked skeptically as she was kissing Heero hello, then Quatre, before moving over to me.

"Very well, thank you," I retorted.

"Why do I smell something burnt?" Sally asked, grabbing a beer from the fridge.

"Duo got overexcited with the cooking and started on a dish towel," Wufei explained, exposing the charred remains of what was once a small kitchen hand towel.

Sally almost choked on her beer as she laughed and Hilde grabbed the towel, furious for a moment, and then she shook her head.

"I actually liked this one," she mumbled. I kissed her and she suppressed a smile. "You're lucky I like you more."

Cathy was setting the table and Hilde turned to help her.

"So, to what do we owe this honor?" Cathy asked.

"Happy birthday," I responded, flipping the last of the steaks onto the plate Wufei held out.

"You remembered," she said, playing along. "How sweet. Where's my cake?"

"How about birthday pie?" Quatre asked, setting the bowl of mashed potatoes on the table.

"Depends on the pie," Cathy replied.

"Key lime?"

"I'll accept it."

We turned at the sound of a knock on the door. Sally was the closest to it and she opened it.

"Hello Dorothy," she said, hiding the surprise in her voice well.

I looked up and saw the blond girl standing at the door. Sally stepped aside, allowing her in. I gave a smile.

"Hey," I said. "Take a seat. I didn't know Trowa had told you to come."

"He didn't," Dorothy said a little uncomfortably.

"He didn't?" I repeated, looking at Hilde who shrugged slightly.

"I did," Heero said suddenly, appearing from the kitchen with two beers. He handed one to Dorothy who smiled up at him. "Nice to see you."

Dorothy nodded, standing awkwardly. Trowa came to say hello, standing beside her.

"Don't tell me you've never had beer before either," he said, looking at the way she held the bottle somewhat unfamiliarly.

She made a face at him and took a dainty sip. "In fact, I have had beer before."

"What is this 'before' stuff?" I asked, intrigued.

Trowa grinned down at Dorothy who glared at him briefly. "I'll tell you at dinner."

"You've got five minutes. And no. I won't forget."

She glanced up at Trowa for confirmation.

He shook his head. "He won't forget. Or let it go."

I smirked evilly. "Let's eat."

"Duo, hurry up. We're going to be late!"

"Late?" I scoffed. "It's ten-thirty in the morning."

"So?"

"This thing is at like nine at night! How can we possibly be late."

"Just hurry up and let's get going already."

"Why don't you ever yell at Heero?" I muttered as I emerged into the hallway.

Hilde looked up at me. "Because I know that Heero is ready."

"He's not out here, yet I'm the one getting screamed at."

"Just come on," Hilde demanded.

I muttered under my breath, shoved past her and threw open the door and promptly felt my heart stop cold and fall into my stomach. I tried to remember to breathe and couldn't. Hilde beside me gulped and I met her gaze before looking up at the person standing at the doorway again.

"Okay, I'm ready to g-" Heero began, walking out of the hallway and into front room. He stopped short, staring amazed at the occupied doorway. There was a long awkward silence.

"Hello Heero," Relena said.


	16. Chapter 15 Relena

DISCLAIMER: I don't own GW.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm back! At last. Sorry it took me SOOOOO long to update. I've been really, _really_ crazy. I know this chapter is long, longer than the others, but she kind of had a lot to say and catch up on. Hope you enjoy! Please read and review.

I noticed that Duo was shocked. So was the short, beautiful brunette beside him. They were extremely uncomfortable at the moment and they gave each other a look. However, all this was registering in the back burner of my mind. I was concentrated only on the fact that Heero was frozen. His features were stuck in a position of complete and utter shock. His hand was frozen to the spot where he had been fixing this belt.

But then it was gone as if nothing. His hand finished its task. His eyes reset to their normal, calm expression. And it all happened in a millisecond, so fast in fact, that I wasn't sure whether I had really seen the expression or if I just wished that I had.

"So," Duo said, clearing his throat loudly. "We were just leaving."

"Just leaving," the brunette beside him repeated, dazed.

I forced my eyes from their rooted position on Heero's face and looked at Duo. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"So, uh, yeah," he stuttered. "We're going to go. Nice to see you again Relena."

And with that he and the girl rushed out the door, obviously relieved to get out of the room. They shut the door behind themselves and then it was just me and him in the room.

"Hello Heero," I repeated, surprised that my voice came out as normal as it did. Inside I was having a mini panic attack. Well, at least that was one good thing about having been in politics for so long. At least I could keep my voice from cracking.

"Relena," he said and I mentally flinched at the sound of his voice.

It hadn't changed. It was still deep and rich, meaning hidden behind the semi-monotone. I stood, dumbfounded and feeling stupid, still clutching my suitcase in my hand. Then he leaned forward, towards me and gently took the case from my hands.

"Why don't we have some tea?" he asked me in a soft voice.

I gave a small, loaded smile and nodded, not able to speak. It had been six years and the man still took my breath away.

He sat me down in a kitchen chair and got to work. He'd always been efficient and the tea was ready in no time. He placed a steaming hot mug into my hand, which I only now realized were cold, and sat across from me. He set his own mug down and waited. I took a sip from the tea and held it, warming my chilled fingers.

"I guess you're wondering why I'm here," I said finally. He didn't respond, just waited for me to finish. I gave a pathetic, little laugh. "I didn't know where else to go actually. I know I should've called or something, but I…"

He made a small movement, pushing aside my worries silently and absently turned his cup so that the picture was facing me. It was one of those ceramic mugs they etched three pictures onto. It was him, Duo, and the brunette I had seen with them. They were all laughing in this one, Duo giving his usual wide grin, the girl giving a twinkling laugh, and Heero's mouth pulled into an unusual smile.

I looked away from the picture, focusing on a point on the wall, trying to control myself. Heero didn't rush me. After a minute I looked back down at the swirling steam coming from my tea.

"I ran away. Like a coward, I ran away," I said bitterly, feeling the sour acid of those words fill my mouth. "I couldn't take it any more. All the lies and the hypocrisy. You know, I wasn't really doing anything any more, they were just kind of using my face. 'The people relate to you, Relena. You are the Dove of Peace.'" I shook my head. "I couldn't handle it anymore. I was so tired. Tired of making decisions, tired of moving from here to there, tired of smiling like nothing was wrong. Tired of having to get used to a different hotel mattress every other day. So I left. I ran away like the selfish, coward I am."

A tear narrowly missed the contents of my half empty mug and rolled down the porcelain side. Heero leaned forward then, looking at me with a softness I had only seen once before in his eyes. He had the same gentle, kind look as he had that day, right before he had gone off to risk his life destroying the remnants of the great ship Libra. I stared into those entrancing, deep blue depths, hypnotized, tears caught on my lashes. He gave a small, comforting smile.

"You are anything but a coward, Relena," he said and I knew he meant it. Heero never said anything unless he really meant it. "You're braver than anyone I know. And even though you don't realize it, you've done exactly what you needed to do for the good of the people once again. How can you lead anyone else when you don't know what it is you want? They're right Relena, you are the Dove of Peace, the icon that kept soldiers like me dedicated in a time of war. An almost unreachable ideal made more tangible with your very existence.

"But we're not in a time of war anymore, Relena. Those roles we played are over. You and I, just like all the others from that past, are done with our parts in this play. We reached the future already and now it is time for the next generation to take over, to lead with their own icons and their own ideals. You and I are the remnants of another time. And you know that the past can't lead the future. You're not a coward, Relena. Believe me."

I stared at him, awed. Finally, after all the bloodshed and war, Heero was whole. That pent up emotion and kindness inside him was allowed free. Many people said that Heero had changed. I don't agree. I don't think Heero ever changed. I think Heero was just himself now.

I smiled appreciatively at him and took another sip of my quickly coolly tea. His mug was still untouched.

"So, was Duo really that scared of me?" I asked.

A smile tugged at the ends of his lips. "Duo's a good friend to both of us. I think he just didn't know what to say. Congratulations. First time in history a person has accomplished that task."

I gave a small laugh. "I'm sorry I got in the way of your outing."

"Believe me, it's not a problem. Actually, we were going to go pick up our tux rentals. Quatre is having a gala party tonight in honor of our repair shop having opened a few weeks ago. Would you like to come?"

I floundered for a second. "Well, I wouldn't want to just waltz into a private event without Quatre's permission."

"I know that he wouldn't mind at all. In fact, I'm positive that he would very much like to see you," Heero replied earnestly. "The only problem would be finding a gown by tonight. I don't know if that's too soon."

"I think I can pull it off," I said with a smile. "Thank you so much, Heero. For everything."

He smiled and stood. "Come on. We can meet up with Duo and Hilde. I'm sure she'll help you find a dress."

I realized after a few moments that I had met Hilde before. She smiled at me kindly, at ease now that she knew that her friend was at ease as well. I had seen her once before on Libra. She had been breaking in to the computer, had seen me, talked to me for a few mere seconds. She had told me that she was trying to help the Gundam pilots, then, seeing my look, asked if I'd known one of them, asked if I'd wanted to go with her to see him. She was a kind woman, a sweet soul and this was proved in the power of her smile.

Duo was all smiles now that things had been, as he put it, "patched up." He was yammering on and on about how great it that I dropped by on the day of the gala. Duo was the same as ever. He was just as upbeat and cheerful as he was during the actual war. It seemed that nothing ever fazed Duo.

He was bouncing around, but I noticed that he always hovered close to Hilde and after a while, it dawned on me that they were dating. This was made evident when he slipped his hand into hers and pulled her protectively close. She looked up at him with a look in her eyes that screamed unmistakable admiration. This must have been the Gundam pilot she had risked her life for all those years ago. It made sense to me.

Heero managed to pry Duo away from Hilde to go pick up their tuxes. Hilde then easily slipped into conversation with me and led me towards a store that sold elegant gowns.

"So," she said, running her fingers over the silk fabric of one of the dress. "You like any color in particular?"

I shrugged a little and scanned through the dresses on display. "I'm not too enthusiastic about anything to gaudy."

Hilde nodded. "Did you fly in today? You must be exhausted. You should rest."

"I'm fine. Flying's become second nature to me. Are you sure that Quatre would be all right with someone just inviting themselves to his gala?"

"You didn't invite yourself, Heero invited you. Being that he is one of the founding members of GP Repairs, which is the whole reason behind the gala, I think he has the right to invite whoever he wants. Where are you staying?"

I paused. "I'm not sure yet."

"You're free to stay with us."

"Oh, no! I couldn't. Really, thank you, but I can't."

"Anyway, the offer stands."

There was silence for a little while, nothing but the soft sighs of fabric as we brushed past them slowly.

"You don't have to be so nervous, you know," she said.

The remark, though spoken softly, gently, surprised me. I opened my mouth to respond, but no sound came out.

"I think that you know Heero well enough to know that if he didn't want you here, you wouldn't be here."

I gave a small laugh. "Not really. I've made it a habit to show up and stay, especially when he doesn't want me."

Hilde looked at me and there was something unreadable in her eyes. "I don't think that's the case."

The way she said it implied something bigger. Something along the lines of it never having been the case. I was blown away with the insight of the brunette. But then she smiled casually and turned. She reached into one of the racks of dresses and pulled out a gorgeous number.

"Here," she said simply.

I took it, looking it over for a moment. Then I smiled at her. She'd picked the perfect dress, the only dress.

Yes, the girl had insight beyond belief.

"Come on! What could _possibly_ be taking so long?"

Hilde sighed and rolled her eyes. "Stop whining Duo!"

We heard a whimper and some pacing steps outside in the hallway. "Hurry up…"

"If you don't shut up, you're not going to like what'll happen!"

"What'll happen?" There was a thick, flirtatiously playful tone in his voice.

"Whatever you're thinking," Hilde said and there was a snicker, "the exact opposite."

There was sudden silence and Hilde shook her head. She finished the last stitch on the strap of my dress. She smiled up at me.

"Done," she said and admired her handiwork.

I looked myself over in the mirror. "Thank you. It's perfect."

"No problem, don't worry about it."

From outside we heard an impatient scuffling sound. Duo may have stopped speaking, but he was making his point increasingly clear. I glanced at myself in the mirror again.

The dress Hilde had found me was really gorgeous. It was a delicious cream color and the satin shimmered and rippled in the light. It was a straight cut with rouched straps that crossed in the back. The back of the dress it's self was semi-low, just under my shoulder blades.

Hilde was wearing a beautiful satin dress as well. It was a stunning shade of red that complimented her black hair accordingly. The straps crisscrossed in the front, creating a little diamond shaped hole at her chest, and continued the pattern around to the backside. The straps continued all the way down the backless dress, stopping at the hem at her tail bone. She sighed and fixed her hair, then smoothed the dress down anxiously.

"God, I'm so not a gala dress kind of girl," she said and I could tell that she was nervous by her voice.

"You look amazing," I said, not lying at all. "Duo will love it."

She met my gaze and slow smile spread. "You think so?" I nodded and she took in a deep breath. "Okay. Let's go."

She pulled open the door, her heels clicking elegantly on the floor. I walked behind her, my stomach doing summersaults.

"Wow," Duo gasped, looking over Hilde. He idly licked his lips, looking very much like a little boy looking at something that he knew he wasn't supposed to touch, but he desperately wanted to. "Hilde, you look…"

Hilde smiled and blushed. I thought how sweet it was to myself. They had been dating long enough to have gotten over that overly physical stage in the beginning of a relationship, but here they were, acting like little kids with a fresh crush.

I lowered my eyes to the ground. This was too surreal. What the hell was I doing here?

I hadn't heard him move, but he was standing in front of me when I looked up. Heero was never one to be afraid caught staring, but the stares had always been different. This one was softer, he blinked rapidly for a moment, took in the length of my dress, his lips parted. He gave a miniscule shake of his head, snapping out of it and he stepped forward.

He looked incredibly handsome in his tuxedo, lean and suave, like an old-time movie star. I got a whiff of him, a scent that had lingered in the back of my mind since the last time I had seen him all those years ago. He produced a red rose from seemingly nowhere. I held my breath as his fingers slid across my temple and he fixed the rose in my hair. He moved back to look at it, satisfied. He gave a smile.

"You look beautiful, Relena," he said softly so that only I heard.

Warmth rushed through me.

Perhaps I didn't exactly know why I was here, but it seemed to matter a lot less.

The dance was swarming with people dressed to the tee. Quatre's firm had rented a gorgeous reception hall and had elegantly decorated it in a simple ivory and champagne theme. I had walked into many such functions before, but this had to be the most nerve-wracking one. These were delegates and senators that laced you with lies hoping to fall into some good gossip. No, these were business men and women who knew how to charm the clothes from your backs. They focused on the things that interested them, and if you didn't manage to capture that in a certain amount of time, they wouldn't bother with you any more.

Heero looked at me as we walked into the lobby. He offered his arm like a gentleman and I took it. An odd sensation ran up my arm as my skin brushed the sleeve of his coat sleeve. We walked into the crowded hall.

"Hey, Quatre!" Duo called, excitedly.

Quatre, who had been talking to a couple of men, turned to look at his friend coming through the door. The men drifted away, disinterested already.

"Duo," Quatre responded with a smile, warmly shaking his friend's hand. "You clean up pretty nice."

Duo beamed and struck a pose. I felt Heero contain a smile beside me.

"Why thank you," Duo said proudly.

"And Hilde," he held her at arms length and turned her around. He smiled. "You look absolutely gorgeous." He kissed her cheek and she laughed.

Quatre turned to greet Heero. "Heero, you look-" his sentence petered and died as he did a double take in my direction. His hands fell away from Heero's shoulders as he turned to face me. "Relena?"

I gave a perfectly practiced smile. "Quatre, I'm sorry to have intruded on-"

"Shut up Relena," Quatre said with a smile and leaned forward pulling me into a hug. "It's great to see you. You look stunning, ravishing… amazing."

"Thank you," I laughed. "For… well, for everything."

"Please," Quatre said, waving my thanks away. "Enjoy yourself."

"The place is gorgeous," Hilde said, looking around. "Who did it? Or who planned it or whatever."

"Who do you think has this much class?" Duo asked as if the answer was obvious and Hilde nodded her consent.

"Ah," Quatre said, raising a hand at someone in the crowd behind me. He smiled and met my gaze. "Relena, I believe you've met the vice president of the Winner Corporation."

I started to respond when the person in question glided up to stand beside Quatre. I stared, alarmed.

"Dorothy Catalonia?" I said.

Dorothy was dressed in a flattering sea-foam green gown that rippled at her feet. It had one strap cutting across her chest, toga-style that looked as if it had been twisted and cinched. She had a regal and elegant beauty to her, but her features were pulled into a surprised stare.

"Miss Relena?" she responded, just as shocked.

"Dorothy is working with me now. She's the person to thank for all the gorgeous designs you see around the place. She's very keen to detail," Quatre said.

I shook Dorothy's hand. "It's good to see you so well."

"Likewise," Dorothy said.

"You did a great job, Dorothy," Hilde complimented.

"Thank you," Dorothy replied. "The hardest part was getting those overly traditional 'designers' to do what I wanted them to do."

"Figures," Duo said.

"Yes, well, Dorothy knows how to get the job done," Quatre said.

He was looking at me, but then his eyes slid past me towards the door. A small, telling smile tugged at the corners of his lips and he looked over someone just coming in. I casually looked back as if taking in the decorations. Trowa Barton was just coming in. On his arm was a very pretty woman with auburn curls and mesmerizing gray eyes. She had on an emerald green dress that I truly believed she was the only person in the world who could possibly pull it off. It was strapless with rouching on the tight bodice and it was a mermaid cut so that the bottom billowed out gracefully.

As I was turning back, Heero caught my eye and minutely raised his brow knowingly. I hid a smile. Quatre was immersed in the conversation again. A few moments later, Trowa and his companion joined us. I was introduced to the woman in question. Her name was Catherine Bloom… Trowa's sister. The look made a little more sense to me now.

"What's this? We weren't invited to the little pow-wow?" came a familiar voice.

I turned and was faced with the impressive figure of Sally Po. Sally was sophisticatedly dress in a black gown. It sloped off the shoulder and was form-fitting. It had two high slits on either side that came up to just above her knees. She had her arm draped through Wufei's. Wufei himself was gazing down at me.

"Relena Peacecraft," he greeted, taking my hand in his. "A pleasure."

"The pleasure is all mine," I responded.

"Relena," Sally said warmly and wrapped me up into a hug so tight, I couldn't help but smile.

"It's good to see you again, Sally," I murmured into her hair.

She gave me a little squeeze that meant "talk to me later about it."

Dinner was served shortly afterwards. It was a beautiful four course affairs, elegantly presented and expertly cooked. I found that I was able to sit back and let my troubles melt away from me. After dessert, we all lingered at the table, talking while the band began playing. Duo was telling some elaborate story, the others all laughing. I looked around the hall, taking in a deep, satisfied breath. The band was formally dressed, concentrating on their instruments. The dance floor was already swarming with people.

"Well, seeing as I am the host of this, I think I'd better set some kind of example and join the dance," Quatre said. He looked at me. "Relena, will you do me the honor?"

I smiled. "Of course."

Quatre was a professional on the dance floor. He swung me expertly around the floor, showing me off.

"Tell me, do you have a place to stay yet?" he asked me.

"No, not yet," I said, remembering the fact with distaste.

"Well, if you don't mind, I've already reserved a room under your name at one of our business hotels. I hope the accommodations suit you, you just need to pick up your key."

I was stunned into silence for a moment, before smiling appreciatively. "Thank you, Quatre. You've gone above and beyond."

"Whatever makes you stay."

The dance ended and I sat again as, one by one, the others at the table drifted towards the dance floor.

"Relena?"

I turned towards the soft whisper. Heero held his hand out.

"May I?" he asked.

I nodded dumbly, taking his hand and letting him lead me to the dance floor. It had been many long years since he had held me like this. He was a surprisingly graceful dancer, taking the lead smoothly. He was not the calloused, experienced dancing genius that Quatre was, but he made me fell warm. I knew this feeling, one that I got every time he was near. The rest of the world was pushed into the background. He was looking straight at me. I wanted to say something, but it was hard. Just when I was about to open my mouth, his hand on my exposed back twitched slightly and he pulled me closer, pressing his cheek against mine and silencing me.

He'd known what I was about to say… even if I hadn't.

The room Quatre had gotten for me was overly expansive. He'd also paid for the first full week of my stay, which had made me angry. The night after the gala, I had been surprised by a knock on my hotel room door. Instead of the cleaning lady, it was Hilde. She had smiled and invited me to lunch at the apartment. Every day after that either she or Duo came to invite me to lunch. We ate, usually with Trowa. Sometimes Catherine would come as well. Sally and Wufei would pop in. Quatre stopped by a few times as well.

I had been there almost three weeks. I was waiting for Quatre to swing by and pick me up. We were heading to meet up with the others at Heero's apartment. The knock came at my door a little late. I stood and answered it. Duo grinned down at me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, surprised.

"What? No hello?" Duo mocked. "Come on, the others are all downstairs."

"Others? You all came?"

"Not really. The girls and Heero are at the apartment, waiting for us. The rest of us were at Quatre's house figuring something out for the repair shop."

"And Heero didn't go with you?"

"He was finishing up a big job that needs to be ready in the morning."

I nodded and we stepped out of the elevator. Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei were waiting for us. After and initial greeting, we headed out. The hotel was only about fifteen minutes away from the apartment, so we walked there. There wasn't much need for conversation, something I still wasn't that used to. In the world I had come from, conversation filled up most every space. Duo talked, but not as much as usual.

Again, I question why exactly I was here. How well did I know any of these people? In any normal situation, these were people whose calls I would screen. However, none of why we knew each others names and faces was normal. Strange things happen to those who know the Gundam pilots. These were the soldiers that had fought, risked their lives, for me. And how well did they know me? Did they care about me personally or what I represented? The latter, of course, because during the war, they had nothing about the real _me_ to go on.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I need to use the restroom."

Quatre looked around and I suddenly realized that I had zoned out completely. We had just gotten to the area of our walk that cut straight through a pretty run down section of neighborhood. Not exactly the optimal place, but the truth was, I couldn't really hold it anymore, as ashamed to admit that as I was.

"Okay, here," Duo said, opening the door to a dirty looking bar. It was about the cleanest one on the block. "We'll wait for you out here."

I nodded a thanks. Duo had made the right choice. There was hardly anyone here at this time of day. Only a table-full of men smoking cigarettes. I went to the bathroom as quickly as I could, trying not to touch anything. I washed my hands, but the water and sink made me feel dirtier.

As I came out of the bathroom, I had to pass by the table of men. A disgusting-looking bunch of thugs. One, who I assumed was in charge, gave me a sick grin.

"Hey, there, sugar," he drawled out, plumes of smoke escaping his lips as he spoke.

I tore my gaze from them and tried to hurry past, but one of the others shifted in his chair and blocked my original exit. I would have to cut closer to the man who'd spoken to get out of there now.

"I said hello," he said, narrowing his eyes at me. "What? You think you're too good to answer me? Come on, sweet stuff, sit on down." He patted his laugh and a guttural laugh rippled through his friends.

I was staring terrified at them, so when the deep, foreign tone rang out from next to me, I jumped.

"Back off," Duo growled. It wasn't the voice that was foreign, just the harsh, steel tone he was using.

The first guy stood. I was now sandwiched between Duo and Disgusting Cigarette-Man. They glared at each other.

"What did you say?" Cig Guy asked in a threatening tone.

"Did I stutter, pal? I said back the hell off," Duo barked out, twice as menacingly.

The guy gave a sarcastic laugh and looked back at his men. "What are you going to do? Ten of us against four of you?"

I looked around when he said that and realized that the others were standing, half-hidden from sight behind Duo's now enormous frame. I never realized how big Duo was. I never realized how tough the others were as well. Trowa was looming and gigantic. He was dangerous, I realized. Wufei was angrily staring them down and Quatre was tensed and ready.

"I suggest," Cig Guy was saying, "that you take a number."

"You lay a hand on her and you'll pull make a mutilated stump," Duo said quickly. And with more foresight than I had, because Cig Guy reached out a hand and grabbed my arm roughly.

"You mean, like this?"

There was a pause, and then, faster than the eye could see, Duo reached forward and pried his hand off, twisting it painfully. Cig Guy's face contorted in pain. There was a sickening "CRACK!" as Duo swiftly broke two fingers. Cig Guy cried out desperately in pain.

"You asshole!" he yelled out, cradling his, as promised, "mutilated stump." "You're in for it now."

Suddenly everything erupted. Cig Guy's men jumped at Duo, knocking me onto the extremely dirty floor in the process, my arm scraping against the table. At the same time, the other three ex-Gundam's leapt forward to meet them. Punches were thrown, but it seemed like the only ones landing were the ones thrown by my friends.

And, as stupid as it was at the moment, I realized that they were doing this for me. It had to be, because there were no ideals at the present to represent other than an ill-timed bladder and a bad decision.

Trowa was untouchable. With an unnatural, cat-like grace, he dodged blow after blow. For every one thrown at him, he threw three of his own. Wufei was pinned by two guy behind a table and a mess of stool. It seemed the bartender was also part of Cig Guy's group because he was leaning over the bar, rooting the opposing team on. Wufei grabbed a stool, slammed it down hard on the table and smashing it to splinters. He took one of the short fragments, threw it hard at one of the guys rounding in on Duo and knocking him t the ground, then he took one of the broken legs of the stool and whacked both of his attackers across the side of the head. I watched as they crumpled to the floor. Duo was angrily fending off three guys. He rammed one straight into the wall, then picked himself off and kicked one guy in the stomach so hard, he simply fell over. Then he grabbed my arm, swung me out of the way of another guy who had a heavy chair in his hands. He went to slam it down on Duo's head, but Duo grabbed it from his hands and walloped him from the side. And Quatre, little, kind Quatre, was viciously twisting one guys arm almost out its socket. He used the guy in his arms as a projectile and threw him at one of the other men who was charging him. Finally, all of the thugs were groaning on the ground, the Gundam pilots hardly winded. The bartender was staring, scared and amazed.

"Look, just get out, okay?" he said in a trembling voice. "You've already ruined my place, just get out."

Quatre reached into his pocket and pulled a wad of cash from his wallet. The bartender eyed him suspiciously. He unrolled three one hundred dollar bills. As he spoke he let each one flutter to the floor.

"This is for the piss. This is for the stool. And this is for the mess," he said, eyeing the man coldly.

And without another word, the four boys started out of the bar. Duo gently took my arm and led me outside.

"You okay?" Wufei asked me, and I realized that he meant it.

I nodded, still trying to catch my breath. "Yes. Thank you very much. I'm sorry to have caused so much trouble."

Duo smiled at me comfortingly and ruffled my hair like he would a child. "Don't worry about it."

We got to the apartment shortly afterwards. The girls all said hello to me. Heero walked towards us, then stopped suddenly.

"What happened?" he asked, and I noticed he was looking at my arm. Like magic, three red scrapes were staring up at the world. They were nothing, but they gave the recent events away. He grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him, shielding me slightly with his body and glared at the others. The only two paying attention were Quatre and Duo.

"We had a little run in at a bar," Duo explained as if nothing. "No big deal."

"Why did you bring her to a bar?" Heero accused.

"She had to pee," Duo said matter-of-factly.

Heero was staring hard at him, and Quatre stepped in. "I think maybe Relena should get those looked at, don't you?"

Without another word, Heero, still holding my arm, led me to his bed room. He sat me on the bed and reached into the bottom drawer of his nightstand. He pulled out an efficient and overly stocked first aid bag. He began leaning the wounds in silence.

"What really happened?" he asked, not looking up.

I told him everything, not leaving out any detail because I knew that he wanted them all. He didn't interrupt, just worked in his expert silence, taking in all the facts. He finished by putting a bandage over the largest scrape and looking up, straight into my eyes.

"I owe them one," he said softly and I thought that I had to be dreaming, but he shook his head slightly. I drew a breath as his calloused hand slid over my overly smooth one. It was huge in comparison. "I mean it."

And then I knew that I had gone crazy because I could've sworn that his face was getting closer to mine. I opened my mouth to say something completely inappropriate and slightly delusional as usual, but he silenced me with a movement he didn't make, so I shut my mouth and swallowed hard.

This was real. Real and warm and…

Electric. A jolt of electricity ripped through me as his lips softly touched mine. My eye fluttered closed on their own accord. He pulled back only a centimeter and then he touched his mouth to mine again, a little more pressure behind it and lingered there. I suddenly knew what he was doing, why he was pausing. He was giving me a way out. But I didn't want a way out. I wanted a way in…

I nervously tested him, parting my lips under his and he followed suit. My tongue flicked into his mouth, tasting him the way I'd always wanted to. It was even better than I thought it would be and another volt of electricity washed over me.

After that first test, he took the lead, understanding what I was telling him. His grip shifted suddenly, brushing up my arm and cupping the back of my neck firmly as his tongue and mine danced. I clutched meekly at his shirt, following his lead just as I always had in the past.

His mouth fell away from mine abruptly as a soft knock came at the door. He looked back at the door. I myself was sitting on the bed, shaken and speechless.

"Heero? Relena?" Sally asked through the door. "You guys almost done? The movie is about to start."

"We're done, Sally," Heero replied, not even a hitch in his voice. He looked back at me. "Ready?"

I didn't attempt speaking. I just nodded, still flushed. I followed him to the door, getting a hold of myself. By the time we immersed ourselves in the crowd of the others, I had on an acceptable face. The movie was nerve-wracking and, to tell the truth, a blur. For all I knew it was about children who ate live puppies. All I could focus on was the fact that Heero's arm was so close to mine, I could feel the warmth coming off it, and that the smell he was emitting was intoxicatingly good, and that I still had his taste lingering in my mouth. We all came out of the movie theatre, blinking in the sudden light. Duo was raving about his favorite part and Wufei was scoffing at him. Sally was laughing at both of them, Hilde rolling her eyes and cursing her fact. And Heero just stood beside me, not looking over, not doing anything.

Had that kiss really happened? Was I going insane? Maybe I had just fantasized the whole thing. Perhaps my imagination was wilder than I thought. But if that was so, why did I still feel his lips pressed against mine? Maybe, maybe, maybe…

"So, where do you guys want to eat?" Duo asked.

And instant murmur went up and discussion groups formed. This place? No, I hated that place! Well, this place has a great salad bar. Salad bars blow. You blow. I would blow…

I couldn't take one more minute of this over-scrutinizing. My head was about to explode with "did I really" and "is it possible?"

"I think I'm just going to go home and go to sleep," I announced.

"Are you okay?" Quatre asked, concerned.

"I'm fine. Just… tired." I didn't add, o_f thinking,_ but I thought it.

"But it's only," Duo checked his watch, "ten-thirty."

I shrugged and gave a small smile, absently reaching into my purse for my hotel key card. My hand searched, not coming into contact with it. Okay, I knew I had put it in my wallet…

"Oh no!" I cried out, checking again frantically.

"What happened?" Trowa asked.

"My wallet… I left it at your apartment," I replied, a little frantic, nodding towards Duo and Hilde. "I took it out to show something to Sally and I left it on the table. It has my hotel key in it."

"I'll take you," Heero said.

I almost jumped at the sound of his voice. It was the first thing he'd said to me since… well, since the apartment. I left with him. We usually walked, but he hailed a cab this time. He opened the door for me and gave directions to the apartment. We sat in silence, him calm as usual, me trying not to shake visibly. He let me out of the cab and we rode up the elevator. He opened the door, let me through. I heard it click behind me. My eyes had just landed on my wallet, lying on the coffee table when he grabbed my wrist and wheeled me around suddenly.

Before I knew what was happening, his mouth was crushing mine, his tongue parting my lips. I couldn't do anything but follow along, not that there was anything I would've done anyway. My fingers tangled themselves in the thick, dark locks and he gripped my back tightly. He broke from my mouth the kiss at the hollow just under my jaw bone. I gave an involuntary gasp of utter bliss and his hand slid up through my hair to cup the back of my neck. The slight pressure of his fingers surprisingly erotic. He pulled back a fraction, looking me straight in the eyes and there was a question in the deep blue depths. I nodded, giving him my full consent and he accepted it. I slid my hand into his nervously. This is still felt too good to be true. I tugged slightly and he followed me down the hallway and into his room. I stopped and turned back to him, closing the gap and leaning up slowly.

His lips met mine again, but softly this time. He was gentle. I felt, rather than saw, him close the door behind himself with a minute click. I felt for the bottom of his t-shirt with my fingers and he let me peel it off. At the sight of the lean, washboard stomach, this dawned on me that this was real. He had a smattering of scars over the expanse of his torso, most old and faded. There was one, a few inches to the left of his heart, that was still lifted from the rest of the skin slightly and before I knew what I was doing I bent and kissed it gently. His skin was warm and tight, the muscles rippling just beneath it.

Heero lifted my head again and kissed me. I moved backwards with him. I lifted my arms as he tugged my blouse off. I subconsciously was glad I'd worn my black bra today. He moved to the snap of my pants next and they fell to the floor with a whisper. Then, cradling me carefully, he laid me back on the bed, still not breaking his lips from mine.

When my head was settled on the pillow, he trailed a line of fiery kisses down my throat, tasting and nipping along the way. His hand undid the clasp of my bra as I wriggled uncontrollably beneath him. My hand anxiously fumbled with the button fly of his jeans. He helped me pull them off and they were tossed carelessly to the side. He was still moving kisses further along my body and he started kissing my thigh, my shin, the top of my foot, he held the leg he had turned his attention to in one hand. With the other he magically whipped my underwear off. I noted how this didn't feel awkward, as it had in the past. The few and much regretted times I had done this with my one and only boyfriend before hand, it had felt wrong, embarrassing. But this…

My attention was turned elsewhere as the final garment was tossed aside and Heero slid over me again. He kissed me softly and again there was that innocent little question in his eyes.

_Are you sure?_

I pulled him closer and in the same moment he meshed with me. I threw my head back and groaned. He was slow, unbelievably gentle with me. I however had no control over the fact that my nails were gouging into his skin, that I was roughly gripping fistfuls of his hair. He just kissed me sweetly, his head hanging by my shoulder, his breathing coming hard. Finally, I erupted, clenching his shoulders tightly.

He sagged onto me, then rolled onto his side, pulling me close. He pried the covers out from under us and draped them over me. He was warm and the scent of his skin was in my nose. I sighed happily.

I woke up alone in the morning, wrapped up tightly. There was robe lying neatly across the chair in Heero's room. My clothes were gone. I lifted my head from the pillow, trying in vain to brush through my tangled hair with my fingers. I gave up and got out of the bed. I wrapped the robe around me, closing it tightly and stepped out into the hallway.

"-should definitely open one up," Duo was saying.

"Because two businesses aren't enough," Hilde responded sarcastically. "Now we need a deli?"

"Where exactly is this deli going to be set up, Duo? In our kitchen?" Heero stated and the sound of his voice made me smile.

I appeared in the kitchen doorway just as Duo was retorting.

"You guys have to imagination. All we need is-"

He stopped short as he spotted me, hair messed up and wearing Heero's robe. He swallowed hard, his eyes widening and his jaw dropping a little. Hilde, confused, turned to follow his gaze. She sat up straighter with a small, surprised, "Oh." Heero met my gaze and gave a small smile. I returned it, just as unnoticeable. Duo looked from me to him, but Heero was once again focused on spreading cream cheese on his bagel. He looked back at me with a grin.

"Well, good morning, Relena," Duo chirped.

"Hi," I breathed, giving a little wave.

"So, uh…" Hilde started. "So. Um, so… how did you, uh… how did you sleep?"

"Yes, Relena?" Duo crowed, happy with the inadvertent set up from his girlfriend. "How didyou _sleep_?"

I couldn't help but grin at his stupid tone. "Fine, thank you."

He just smirked all the wider.

Hilde was still trying to think of something polite and neutral to say. Then she shook her head. "Screw it. What the hell happened last night?"

"I think we _know_ what happened last night," Duo drawled, resting his hands behind his head triumphantly.

"So," Hilde prompted, looking at Heero. I followed her gaze. "Are you guys finally… you know. Together?"

"Yeah, prove it! Kiss her!" Duo demanded, leaning towards his best friend.

Heero said nothing as he got up with his empty paper plate in hand. He walked to the garbage can beside me and threw the plate out. Then he suddenly wheeled around and kissed me. I smiled against his lips and kissed him back.

"Finally," Duo muttered from behind us.


End file.
